The Sooner It Will
by ladywinterfic
Summary: War is cruelty. There's no use trying to reform it, the crueler it is the sooner it will be over. YAOI, KakaNaru, ANBU!Naruto, panicking!Kakashi, ruthless!Sandaime, READ. THE. WARNINGS. --- Chapter 7: Brainbreaking for everyone.  Yes, everyone.
1. Act 1, Part 1

**The Sooner It Will**  
Act 1-1: You made your bed, now lie in it

.o0o.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto in any way, shape, or form.

**WARNING:** KakaNaru, ie. YAOI, ie. Male/Male. DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT LIKE.

**AN:** This chapter is fairly gen., future chapters may or may not be, read the warnings. Also **read the warnings at the bottom before favoriting or skipping ahead. NO SERIOUSLY.**

**

* * *

**War is cruelty. There's no use trying to reform it, the crueler it is the sooner it will be over.  
- William Tecumseh Sherman**  
**

* * *

"..and there's no other way to retrieve the information?"

"No, Hokage-sama. Not without a full-scale assault, which would not only greatly decrease the chances of retrieving it both intact and untampered with, but will allow them knowledge that they've been compromised."

"For a location that may not even be their main base."

"Correct."

The Sandaime sighed, and they watched as a decade's worth of days seem to settle into the lines of his face. He whispered to himself, "And to think I sent him into ANBU to protect him."

They said nothing. The absurdity of the statement spoke for itself, as did the Hokage's wry smile. That the smile was closer to a baring of teeth was also not worth commenting on.

"This will not be a suicide mission," the Hokage said finally, firmly, steel in every line of his posture. "Form multiple extraction plans, have the best medical team on standby, and he will have full clearance on anything of mission relevance."

"Of course." They paused, and shifted uneasily. "Regarding the seduction experts?"

"I'll have them speak to him later today, more for what to expect than...full training." The Hokage snarled, quietly, "As you said, this Kawa Yatomaru likes them 'young and unbroken in'." He abruptly left his chair, letting it spin out with a _bang_ against his desk, and walked up to the windows. He stared at the Hokage monument, wrestling with his face and his mind to get them into some kind of order.

He silently tells a face there, _I am sorry_.

He asks the others, _what would you have __me do?_

"Hokage-sama?"

"You know what needs to be done, you have your orders. Worst comes to worst, I give full authority to carry out that full-scale assault on their base. We may need those plans anyway depending on what we find out. And," and Sarutobi bowed his head, "Call Naruto in. And clear my meetings for the rest of the day. We have much to discuss and I fear I won't have stomach to do much else, after."

* * *

_Protect my son, _Minato had said to him when they'd arrived, in the moments before the Shinigami took him, bleeding against Kushina's body, _let the village know he is a hero._

Those two wishes, because they're two whatever Minato may think, were so mutually exclusive that Sarutobi would have laughed had he time to laugh during the aftermath of the Nine Tails. Sarutobi compromised; he immediately, bluntly, told the traumatized people of his village of the Yondaime's Sacrifice, this Junchuuriki, this hero. And they, mindlessly with the fear that a trace of the demon still existed amongst them, forgot to ask who the child was. They forgot all the gossip surrounding the Yondaime, regarding the identity of his wife, in the face of this new 'enemy'. They forgot to _look _at the child, in the lull of their superstitions.

It was thus that Iwa never learned that the Yellow Flash had a son.

However, _Konoha_ never learned that the Yellow Flash had a son, either. So Konoha could not move to protect the son of their greatest hero from Danzo. Or itself.

Every odd day or so, the Sandaime wondered which one made for the worse enemy. Iwa, or your own people. (Sarutobi hoped that the younger generations will give the boy solace, and placed a law to that effect.)

Naruto was almost five when he begged to start the Academy early, and the combined outrage, at his own people, and guilt, at his own actions, swayed Sarutobi to say yes. It took two weeks for Danzo's people to notice the boy's potential, but luckily only a day for Naruto to be sheltered under an ANBU trainee mask.

ANBU Codename Uwan, specializing in infiltration, traps, and stealth, held the record as being the youngest ANBU in Konoha's history. He was also the _current_ youngest, aged ten and looking younger, and also pale-eyed, and Kawa Yatomaru displayed a preference for both traits. These three facts were included in the mission scroll he handed to Ookami; which was skimmed, then read, then read again, much more slowly.

There was a long, heavy silence.

"Why was I requested?" Ookami finally asked. His voice was even, respectful, but anger dripped into the air around him.

"Because I was requested by Uwan to choose for him 'one of Konoha's most loyal shinobi', and 'the person I trusted most'."

"Trusted most?" His voice was still monotone, lazy. An outraged eye flashed, barely seen from behind the ANBU's mask. "To do...what?"

"Trusted most. In general." Sarutobi emphasized. "And to be considerate. To be discreet."

"...To be a _pedophile_?" Ookami drawled, angry, insulted. "Maa, I may be a pervert but that doesn't-"

"I do not mean," he cut in, raising his voice, "this to disrespect you. And while it did help that you are...experienced, that was not the biggest factor in my choice."

"And while I do not mean to disrespect _you_, Hokage-sama, you are requesting that I sleep with a _ten year old_. Or," Ookami tilted his head, posture settling back into a studious neutrality, "Is this not a _request_? Which I find strange; wouldn't the duty of being an infiltrator's first be normally under the purview of our seduction instructors? Or perhaps even, dare I say, a close acquaintance rather than a stranger?"

Sarutobi pinched the bridge of his nose, and sighed. He peered into the shadows of the office. "What do you think, Uwan?"

He was amused to note, with a bit of pride, that Ookami had to stifle his twitch of surprise when Uwan slid from those shadows.

"I think it's a good sign that pervert-senpai is pissed," Uwan chirruped, and circled around Ookami like a curious monkey, staring, inspecting. The boy reached out to poke at Ookami's stomach, then chest, then arms, which the ANBU bore stoically, with a raised eyebrow.

"Do I meet with your approval?" Ookami lazily asked, the sarcasm like a footnote.

"Mmm, it's more like, do I meet with yours, ne?" Uwan stopped his prodding and tilted his head up at the wolf-masked ANBU then looked back at Sarutobi, a question in the set of his shoulders and the twitch of his hand.

Sarutobi nodded, and Uwan removed his mask.

Uzumaki Naruto smiled, a bit sheepish and nervous, and scratched at the back of his head. The smile crinkled the whisker marks on his face, and almost reached his eyes.

* * *

So many thoughts collided in Kakashi's mind just then that it almost felt like white noise.

_Jinchuuriki_. Kakashi didn't really spend a lot of time in the village in-between missions and catching up on sleep, or healing (or both), but it's hard to miss the hatred covering the fear that seemed almost universal towards the demon-container. And even among shinobi ranks there was a version of this, the losses from the Nine Tails were especially personal to those who'd actually had to face the demon, tempered into wariness by rumors of the One Tail.

_Mmm, it's more like, do I meet with yours, ne?_ the boy had said. It was a wonder they'd managed to find anyone to train him.

_I think it's a good sign that pervert-senpai is pissed,_ the boy had said, which, frankly, had calmed his anger some, while the boy's unafraid actions disarmed him. But it indicated a troubling amount of thought gone into picking and approaching him and, a part of his mind hysterical, really _**looking **_at the kid brought home how ridiculously young he appears, round-faced, and blond-haired, and blue-eyed and...

And, _holy shit,_ he...

He looks a little like...

_I didn't know Minato had a son, _Kakashi thinks, dazed. Then, _Minato stuck the Nine Tails in — of course he did. _Then, _the Hokage wants me to sleep with sensei's __**son**__..._

Kakashi pulls off the ceramic mask and pushes up his hitai-ate; not a Henge. He doesn't know if he'd be more pissed off if it _was_ a Henge. He looks up, doesn't even bother to hide the confusion in his eyes, looks at the Sandaime who just looked back calmly. Steadily.

And Kakashi shakily covers up his sharingan eye, peers down at Minato-in-miniature, and tries to find something to say.

"You look like you're seven," pops out, and he cringes. Mostly because its true.

"Nnng, shaddup!" the boy cries, then puffs out his cheeks in consternation.

"Okay, now you look five," Kakashi teases, droopy-eyed. And surprises himself by wanting to chuckle at the boy yelling about how, "it's just a short phase!" and how, "he'll grow out of it soon, believe it!" He surprises himself more when he reaches over and ruffles the kid's hair, who pauses, and squints up at him.

"You're right, old man," Naruto states, face serious, hidden underneath the squinting.

"Mmm?"

"He doesn't hate me."

Kakashi's alarmed and awake. He stares at the suddenly solemn blue eyes and feels like he just passed some test. He feels like someone has punched him when he realizes how surprised Naruto sounds, because the surprise barely contained any bitterness. And he doesn't know how to feel at the fact that Konoha hates the son of one of their best loved shinobi.

"Ookami," the Sandaime says lazily, almost absently, and Kakashi looks up with a start, realizing that he didn't actually request permission to remove his ANBU mask, "You're free to refuse this assignment. However, Uwan has requested help in finding someone for his first time and as none of us would wish for that to be during his mission to infiltrate the bed of a _child molester_, well, I would ask you to name who you'd have to replace you."

Kakashi gapes at the Hokage, and is very glad he is wearing a mask. He thinks of the people he knows, then thinks of who he'd trust, then thinks of who he'd trust with _this_ assignment, and not completely break. (_I think it's a good sign that pervert-senpai is pissed, __said __Minato's son_.) And of these, who he could absolutely trust, and the trust would _have_ to be absolute, to be more than just perfunctory; to be, in addition, kind. To the Jinchuuriki. (_Mmm, it's more like, do I meet with yours, ne?_)

"Kakashi?" The Sandaime's voice is hard. "Give me a name."

Looking down at the boy, Kakashi sees him looking away, face neutral, body set in a way that they train you to have when bracing for a blow. He swallows.

"Okay," he finds himself saying. "I accept," he almost whispers.

And those small shoulders untenses; Kakashi finds himself glad for that. He mentally shakes himself.

Still though...

"For the record, Hokage-sama," he remarks, with cheer pasted onto his voice like sewage, "I hate you."

The old leader just nods in acceptance and approval, looking tired. "Room 23 in the Tower is cleared and stocked for your use. Uwan needs to set off by 0600 in three days," he pauses, looking uncomfortable, "Make the most of the time."

* * *

_...end chapter 1..._

* * *

Author's Notes: "Uwan - a spirit named for the sound it shouts when surprising people." (wiki) There's already a canonical ANBU named Baku, after the spirits that eats dreams/nightmares, so I figure Uwan wouldn't be too much of a stretch.

In this fic, ANBU status have no bearing on the usual classification of ninja rank. Based on naruto wikia's, "The shinobi in the ANBU are hand-picked by the Kage; chosen for their individual capabilities and special skills. Age, gender, background, or previous rank bear no weight in this decision." Since the Hokage not only assigns their missions but hand-picks his ANBU, I am assuming in this fic that Danzo would be able to have little to no pull in the regular ANBU forces (similarly, I assume Danzo has full control of Ne).

While this is ANBU!Naruto, he's not especially super!Naruto, for reasons that will become clearer in later parts. However he's super precocious, being the son of Namikaze Minato (who reportedly broke many, many records in terms of both intelligence and strength), and is in this fic trained in psychology and other specialized things from the age of 5. He will be super!determined, as stubborn as a barnful of goats, cheerful like a morning person (and its always morning for him), and have as inappropriate sense of humor as I can manage to fit in and still not be random. He will also be sometimes nervous, sometimes stupid, and not know everything.

For the record, I really like unreliable POV.

Also, if you hadn't noticed by now:

**WARNING: Naruto's 10 years old in this fic in this act. TEN. As in, THIS IS SHOTA. There will be HARD YAOI in the next chapter. There will be future implied (off-screen) rape. IF THIS DISTURBS YOU, DO NOT CONTINUE READING.**

If hard yaoi squicks you, but you want cuddles, skip to chapter 3.

* * *

_...next time..._

_The walk to the diplomats quarters was awkward like a morning after. Kakashi's hands twitched, empty, because the idea of pulling out Icha Icha made something spasm in the pit of his stomach, and it's not even that it would be disrespectful (because being disrespectful was a hobby of his, honestly), but it seemed somehow downright cruel. At this moment. To read that orange book in front of _the boy he'd have to fuck.

_A small part of Kakashi's mind realizes that the rest was either gibbering in panic or wishing to scrub several layers of itself away. That part tries to tell the rest of himself, _get a grip_. _

_Tries._

_[...] _

_Kakashi looks down at his own lap, and frowns. He sighs, sounding bothered, and says, "Congratulations."_

_"What?"_

_"You've just made a guy wish his cock was smaller. That's a first in the history of...hmm. Possibly ever."_


	2. Act 1, Part 2

**The Sooner It Will**  
Act 1-2: You made your bed, now lie in it

.o0o.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way, shape, or form.

WARNINGS: KakaNaru, ie. YAOI, ie. Male/Male. **Also Naruto is 10 years old, and there will be hard yaoi in this section. DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT LIKE.**

AN: Next chapter will have post-sex cuddles, mission plotting, and an implied rape that won't be shown. Also an implied handjob and blowjob.

Thanks to Nightmaric and Kathie-Rin for prompts that helped write some of this chapter!

* * *

_...previously..._

_"For the record, Hokage-sama," he remarked, with cheer pasted onto his voice like sewage, "I hate you."_

_The old leader just nodded in acceptance and approval, looking tired. "Room 23 in the Tower is cleared and stocked for your use. Uwan needs to set off by 0600 in three days," he paused, looking uncomfortable, "Make the most of the time."_

* * *

The walk to the diplomats quarters was awkward like a morning after. Kakashi's hands twitched, empty, because the idea of pulling out Icha Icha made something spasm in the pit of his stomach, and it's not even that it would be disrespectful (because being disrespectful was a hobby of his, honestly), but it seemed somehow downright cruel. At this moment. To read that orange book in front of the boy _he'd have to fuck._

A small part of Kakashi's mind realizes that the rest was either gibbering in panic or wishing to scrub several layers of itself away. That part tries to tell the rest of himself, _get a grip_.

Tries.

He watched himself open the door for Uwan, because it's Uwan with the mask on, who's acknowledging tilt of the head read distinctly as amused, and then followed him through. As Uwan explored the room, he turned, locked and sealed the door, and went towards the window to do the same. He drew the curtains. He had a thought, and looked at Uwan from the corner of his eye as he removed his ceramic mask and placed it on a side table; but the boy looked no more nervous _after_ being locked up in a room with him than before. Kakashi didn't quite know if that's a good thing.

_He_ certainly felt trapped.

Uwan took off his own mask and placed it by Kakashi's. The boy, Naruto, looked up at him and scratched at his head.

"Shouldn't you put up something for sound?"

"Aa," Kakashi agreed, wry, removed the nearest picture frame, and pricked his finger. As he drew the seal, concentrating, he asked, "So, you watched videos then?"

"Um, no," the blond coughed, "Just browsed some books. They all made it seem, er, noisy."

"Depending on who's involved, it is," he remarked stiltedly, then concentrated, formed a handseal, and slammed it on the last line. The seal glowed briefly, then sent a pulse of pale chakra that skimmed along the walls, ceiling, and floor.

There was the familiar _snap_ of ANBU armor unlocking, and Kakashi turned to see the boy placing his set on a chair next to the king-sized bed, both chest and arm guards. It was like ice down Kakashi's back to see him start to pull up his shirt.

"Wait." Kakashi found himself suddenly in front of the blond, stopping his hand. (_God, his hand was so _small.) "Kid-Naruto._ Wait._"

"We're doing this with our clothes on, pervy-senpai?" it was said teasingly, but with a hard, wary edge on top of a pile of nervousness.

He let out a groan of frustration and felt hollow and like he's doing everything wrong. "Do you even know my _name_?"

"Hatake Kakashi." the boy answered, face clearing a little. "Sharingan Kakashi. The Copy Cat Nin. Son of the White Fang and student of the Yellow Flash—"

_Of course. His fucking__ titles__._ A bit of the sudden anger must have shown through because the boy paused.

"Hi," the blond gave a little wave, "Uzumaki Naruto. Jinchuuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox. ANBU Codename Uwan and the son of the Yellow Flash." His voice dropped a little on the last part. "But we're keeping that part secret right?" He stared at Kakashi determinedly, "I kinda like staying alive."

"You knew?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense after putting together what I look like and what happened around when I was born," Naruto shrugged, shoulders sagging in a way that seemed a little sad, but mostly resigned.

"Ah." Kakashi scratched at his head. Looked everywhere but at the boy. "This is—"

"Probably more awkward for you than it is for me." The blond puffed, then grabbed his hand and pulled them both into sitting on the bed. Before Kakashi had a chance to protest, tiny nimble fingers were already working through the clasps on his armor. Grabbing hold of those fingers only caused the kid to duck in and press his lips against the cloth of his mask, roughly where his mouth was. The small lips stumbled then sought out his, pressed in a kiss, nipping at his lips through the cloth before drawing back a little-and Kakashi felt it like a tug down his _spine_. It took all he had to swallow a gasp.

"Take it off."

Kakashi blinked at him. He's a supposed genius but came up with only an uncomprehending, "What?"

"You're taking my virginity, least you can do is take your mask off."

"Brat," Kakashi groaned, breathed deeply,_ what the fuck is up with this kid,_ "Just, just give me a moment." He knew he had been precocious himself and must've given Minato several grey hairs, but at least he'd been _thi__rteen_. Somewhere his sensei must be laughing at him; that or sharpening the knives. "Impatient imp," he said, the boy all curling up in his lap and making himself 'comfortable', and Kakashi let his head fall, to rest his cheek on the blond's hair, small hands still loosely trapped in his own. "_You_ may have had a week to get used to the idea. Give me a few _minutes_, ne?"

The blond head nodded. He breathed in, smelled sweat, wind, and the scent of boy, and thought firmly at himself, _better me than a dirty old man_, and winced. He tried again, he thought, _better here than during his mission_, and that rang true. Kakashi gathered himself. Then sat up and lifted his armor off; it was placed on the floor with his arm guards, then he took off their sandals and shoved the entire pile underneath the bed.

He removed his hitai-ate and placed it on the bedstand, and paused.

Kakashi made himself look neutrally at Naruto while peeling off his shirt and the attached mask, sharingan eye firmly closed. The boy's expressions flickered faster than he could catch, then settled into something that looked impressed, staring at his face.

"That must've hurt," the boy finally _almost_ said. Kakashi instead caught at his mouth and interrupted him. He closed his eye, and hoped that pure sensation would distract himself. He licked at the boy's tongue, which licked back in answer, tentative but welcoming, and _god_ but he was sweet; he tasted like fresh air and soup broth, miso, like the feeling of seeing a warm meal set in front of you after a long, cold day. Kakashi ran his tongue across the roof of the other's mouth, and Naruto groaned and shivered in his hands. And Kakashi's hands were on his waist (and how did they get _there?_) and his waist was so _tiny_, and the boy, the _boy_, was—

"So young." Kakashi broke away, opened his eye, despairing. "God you're..." He found his fingers smoothing circles into Naruto's sides. It possibly looked like he was comforting the boy, but he knew deep inside that he was trying to comfort _himself_.

"You..." The boy gave him a dazed look, panting, then catching his breath, "It really bothers you, huh?"

Kakashi shot him a flat look.

"Even knowing that I'm asking? That the Hokage is asking?"

Even holding the boy's gaze, it felt like he was sheepishly looking away.

"Nnrgh. Okay let's try this. Maybe it'll make you, I dunno, feel better," he started doing handseals. Kakashi looked attentively on, slightly curious, mostly ready to dive off the bed.

Naruto paused.

"Er. You don't happen to have the Anti-Erection Jutsu on, do you?"

"Never do, why?" The Anti-Erection Jutsu tended to be used by people in authority who needed to look at all times...'professional'. Since Kakashi never found the need to _look _professional, as he was either very professional and focused or very _not_, he'd never bothered. Also, the Jutsu could be overwhelmed by overloading it, with debilitating side-effects.

"Good," Naruto smirked, "You won't be knocked out then."

Which was nearly a lie as what felt like all of Kakashi's blood rushed to his cock so fast it left him _winded_, when he found himself with a lapful of naked, well-endowed girl. He vaguely recalled hearing something like, "Sexy no Jutsu," but it was very hard to focus on anything but the ridiculously soft breasts pressed up against his chest and teasing at the underside of his chin (_god _but they were _huge_) and the smooth, smooth thighs spread open against his.

"Gggnnayh!" Kakashi blurted out, and the girl disappeared with a faint _poof!_ leaving him with a lapful of boy and an erection that didn't seem to mind. He frowned down at himself, then at Naruto. "What was _that_?" which managed to sound only a little strangled. His dick really wanted to pound something, anything, into a whimpering _mess_, or get at least some good firm attention from his hand. He felt that, all's considered, he's doing a good job not letting any of that into his voice.

"Tell you later," the blond muttered, trying to lean in.

But Kakashi caught at his face with both hands and all his will-power and rested their foreheads together, struggling with himself, trying not to breathe too hard.

"Okay, your self-control is kinda awesome, but can we _please _just get on with this?" the boy looked a little upset and desperate and afraid. However he mostly just looked stubborn and he wiggled on Kakashi's lap until Kakashi couldn't help but thrust back.

"Did you think a hard-on is gonna make me ravish you?" he gritted out and forcibly stopped himself from moving.

The boy glared back and started mimicking the thrusts, and Kakashi could only groan helplessly (_trying so so hard not to crowd the boy, not to make him nervous, not to make him—_). But letting that, that groan escape seemed to temper the boy's thrusts, it seemed to ease the grip Naruto had had on his shoulders, which Kakashi just realized was there. Like, like the boy was trying to _hold him in place—_

"Did you think...that because I'm taking my time," he reasoned out loud, "That I'll change my mind, and leave?"

This stilled the blond, like he didn't know whether to draw back or push closer, head tilted down, against Kakashi's hands, bangs covering his eyes and teeth chewing at his lips.

"I dunno, _will_ you?"

_Oh._

* * *

Naruto doesn't know what to think anymore. For all his ANBU training, Kakashi is still stupidly difficult to read. It makes him nervous and for not the first time he wonders if the guy is just going to up and decide to drop his, his _mission. _Naruto mentally makes a face at that, but there was no better way to secure full blackout on the details and how _else _were they going to _find_ someone? It makes him uncomfortable and feel very small that he'd had to ask Jii-san for help, to find someone.

He doesn't want Kakashi to go. Kakashi's kinda really good looking, and his hands are kind. (He finds that hands are more honest than most faces; you can sorta feel what's going on underneath the skin, if the muscle's all cringing away, if the bones are poised to be hard.) Its hard to find kind hands. Even his ANBU teachers' only became kind after a year or so. And he didn't _have_ a year to find someone else and no way was he gonna ask _them_. He'd never be able to look them in the _face_.

Or, er, mask.

So, so he's happy that Jii-san has Kakashi's loyalty and got him to agree to this and knows that if the white-haired guy leaves, it would be all due to Naruto. And Naruto keeps messing up, or, or _something_, 'cause Kakashi keeps getting this _look_ in his eye, so Naruto's just gonna have to try _harder_. And that's that.

Which is why, when he says, "I dunno, _will_ you?" it comes out as a challenge. Thinking about it, the older guy seemed kinda more relaxed whenever he did that, sorta. Its weird because it didn't always work, and Naruto looks back up to stare at the man's face to maybe try an' figure out why, which is how he saw Kakashi make this totally pinched look, 'cause it disappeared quick.

"Mmm. I've been going about this wrong, I think," he says almost to himself. And Naruto didn't really care because the hands that were cupping his face drifts down his back and starts stroking, up and down his spine.

Naruto would purr if he could; what came out of his mouth's more like a moan and he lets his eyes drift almost closed and feels himself relax. Kakashi's hands weren't saying, _I'm afraid to touch you_, any more. They weren't saying, _I want to leave_. His hands moving across the muscles of his back, in firm shiver-inducing glides, shouted at him, _I don't want you to hurt; I don't want you worried_. They whispered, _I like you_.

Naruto watches Kakashi watching him, as he arches into his hands, and something seems to settle in that one dark-grey eye. Something that seems to firm up and let go all at once.

"If I promise not to leave this room at _least_ until you've had a screaming orgasm, will you trust me?"

Naruto shivers at the words, at the hands, and smiles wide, "Promise?"

Kakashi nods.

Pauses.

"Wait, can ten year olds even _have—_"

"Yes." Naruto blinks, blushing a little, "Er, well, I don't know about the screaming, but the pamphlets that they gave me— um, I tried—"

"Okay then!" Kakashi interrupts, with forced light-heartedness, and then tugs at Naruto's shirt in a playful way. "Off with the shirt, mine's off so you need to catch up!"

He giggles and he helps the guy pull off the stretchy black fabric. He's startled into a gasp when he feels a series of kisses work it's way up his torso, barely after the shirt came off, that became open-mouthed licks and light sucks all the way up his neck.

"_Oh god,_" trips out of his mouth, and he feels Kakashi smile against his jaw.

Then Kakashi tips his head for a kiss and Naruto opens his mouth eagerly, a thrill up his spine, 'cause if that other kiss said anything, it said the man was _good_ at kissing. The things Kakashi did with his tongue curled his _toes, _and this time's the same. Except this time its demanding, like the guy's trying to crawl _into_ him through his _mouth_ which makes Naruto laugh around his shivers and his gasps, its hard to laugh, to breathe because the man kept diving back against his lips, and he curls his arms around Kakashi's head, presses close, and tries to crawl into him too.

He absently notes one large hand moving away from his back, and it runs it's knuckles down his chest, down his stomach, and—

"Nnngh!" he pants and pushes up against the hand for _more_.

"You liked that?" Kakashi's tone's amused in a way that makes Naruto want to punch him in the face with the _well, duh_. But he doesn't get punched because he keeps his hand moving, knuckles running over the bulge in the blond's pants, and Naruto's basically given up kissing in favor of gasping against the Kakashi's cheek. He feels the man's other hand rubbing circles into his ass, then skimming up to play at his waistband.

He grins, open-mouthed into Kakashi's skin, tries to thrust against Kakashi's hand, and asked, "So, you gonna fuck me now?"

"_Language_." he growls, breathless.

Naruto just laughs in response and bites at Kakashi's mouth as much as he could while still gasping from the knuckles against his hard-on.

"I haven't even stretched you yet!" his voice is low, rough, and playful, "Unless you've already—?"

"Stretched?" Naruto blinks. The seduction experts didn't mention anything about stretching.

There is a very long pause. He makes a noise of protest, and looks up, curious.

A black look passes over Kakashi's face as he stares at Naruto, both eyes open, red eye whirling, like they're seeking something in Naruto's eyes. Which he apparently didn't find because he starts glaring furiously at a wall, and Naruto's very glad it wasn't directed at _him_. (Kakashi's hands are possessive, and mutter, _you are here, you are here._) Naruto decides to stay very, very quiet. After a bit, the older man visibly shudders, closing his eyes, and pulls him in closer, like a hug.

"I'm very glad I'm in this room right now."

"Okay," he replies, a bit confused. But Kakashi starts kissing him very carefully, so he ignores the confusion and presses back, letting him in. Its warm, and kinda different from the others, lips smoothing across his mouth, gentle, and tongue like it's trying to wipe something away, like the guy thought Naruto's about to break. Which makes him mentally frown. And it was nice, for awhile, but...

He pulls back from Kakashi's lips, then not-so-gently headbutts him away, "Oi! So about this 'stretching'."

"_Brat_," he mutters, droop-eyed, rubbing at his head. He then holds up a finger and turns to rummage in the bedstand. Curious, Naruto crawls over and looks in; there were apparently several bottles in there, of what looked like oil. Kakashi hums, shifting through them, and picks one out. Then he turns and looks at Naruto, hovering at his shoulder, and Naruto draws back a little because it looks like the guy's doing _math_ in his head or something, while peeling off his gloves.

"What?" he asks, a bit disturbed. Who did math in _bed_? It was annoying enough doing it at the _Academy_. Kakashi places his large hands at Naruto's hips and pushes him away a bit, looking at him fully, up and down. Had the silver-haired man not promised to not leave, Naruto would've started worrying just then, but instead he just waits, feeling kinda annoyed. Honestly, _math_. What the hell.

Then Kakashi looks down at his own lap, and frowns. He sighs, sounding bothered, and says, "Congratulations."

"_What_?"

"You've just made a guy wish his cock was smaller. That's a first in the history of...hmm. Possibly ever."

"_Kakashi-senpai_," he says, with what he feels like is a great deal of patience, "_Focus_. You were talking about stretching and made it seem like a big deal."

"I was, wasn't I?" Kakashi smiles then, eyes closed, and pushes him into a kiss, leaning him back against the bed. "Mmm, but its easier to show you. Here, lift up," he murmurs as he starts peeling Naruto's pants off and follows them down, then tossed the pants at the chair with the blond's ANBU armor.

Naruto hoists himself up onto his elbows to see better and scoots towards the middle of the bed when Kakashi motions at him to budge back. He watches as Kakashi crawls over to him, something about it making his breath all funny. And as the silver-haired man comes up between his legs, to give Kakashi room he leans back a little, feet flat against the bedspread, and spreads his legs wider; which apparently did funny things to _Kakashi_ 'cause the man jerks his hips down suddenly and groans into the blond's stomach.

"You. Are going. To be the _death_ of me."

This just makes him giggle, and Kakashi licks at his navel in retaliation, which makes his arms almost give out. Kakashi only raises an eyebrow and licks again, slow, and then his arms totally _do_, and he's staring at the ceiling in surprise because he really didn't _squeak_. He's sure of it. And then the bastard licks _again_, a long slow trip around the edge and some part of him realizes that there's a wet, was that a finger?, making a similar trip around his asshole and he tries and utterly fails to stop making stupid sounds.

"St~ret~ching," Kakashi says, punctuating the word with nudges and pushes, both below with his finger and above with his tongue.

"Aaah?" Naruto gasps, looking down.

"Mou, you're not paying attention," he pouts, but Naruto already saw his smirk and feels fine in totally not listening to whatever it is he's saying.

The silver-haired man then pulls back his finger and peers up at Naruto's face carefully, and starts rubbing around the edges with two fingers instead, spreading them slightly, slightly pushing in.

Naruto groans at the slight burn and blinks, "Weird," wiggles a bit.

"Mmm," Kakashi agrees in a hum, and Naruto completely _arches _off the bed, because Kakashi's mouth was on his _dick, _when did he mov—

It kinda went all muggy after that, Kakashi's mouth wet and hot and relentlessly _evil_ 'cause Naruto kinda needs to _breathe_ and he can't with the fucking _humming_, and the licks, and, and was that the 'finding something' tune?, then his fingers _hit_ something and its like everything's squeezed tight until nothing's left but the _pleasure_ and the _awesome_ and it all goes—

white.

* * *

"Whoa," the blond panted, the sound coming out shaky and in more syllables than the word actually contained.

"You're welcome," Kakashi whispered, amused. He had his head propped up on one fist, watching the boy's face. He was, honestly, beautiful. And while a part of Kakashi feels terribly like a dirty old man, the rest of him says, _better here, better with me_. He remarked, in a tone chock full of cheer, "No screaming yet. So I'll just have to try again, ne?" He wiggled his fingers gently and Naruto panted, his ass fluttering around the man's knuckles.

"W-when did you get up to three?"

"You were enjoying yourself too much to notice," Kakashi said, distracted. The boy was already twitching into hardness again, albeit slowly. _Ah, youth. _Though it was difficult to see Naruto as 'innocent' now, not after the sounds he'd made and not after how he'd thrust back against Kakashi's fingers in a way that made him seem like pure _sin_.

God but the blond had been shameless, spreading his legs wide open like it was _nothing. _Kakashi allowed himself a lazy thrust against the mattress and bit back a groan. He'd been hard since Naruto had jutsu'd into a girl and he's pretty sure he must be half-crazy from it, but he was here for a _reason _and it wasn't for his own sake.

"Kakashi?" The boy worked his way even closer, so his cheek pressed against Kakashi's forearm, to stare straight up at him where he was propping his face up.

"Mmm?"

"Ummm..."

"You okay kid?"

"Y-yeah." Those blue eyes were so dilated that they were mostly black, and they were both breathing hard.

"That's good." He continued lazily working the boy loose, changing angles a bit here and there, watching the shivers flow across the small body, carefully monitoring the expressions on Naruto's face.

"We gonna do this?" And then the blond clenched down _hard_ on his fingers.

Kakashi sharply sucked in his breath. Slowly spread his fingers some, testing. It...should be enough. When he slid his fingers out Naruto made such a pleading sound of protest that he had to squeeze himself roughly to stop from coming.

Then he quickly slipped away and hauled the floor length mirror from the wall to pull it close to the bed, right in front of the boy.

"Eeeeh?" the blond looked at the mirror then squinted at him in question.

Kakashi simply skimmed off his pants with a relieved sigh, then slid up behind Naruto, front to back, and wrapped him in a loose hug, "It'll be easier on you in this position, but I need to see your face." He met those blue, blue eyes in the mirror, "To see that I'm not hurting you."

Which made the blond blush, oddly enough, harder than at anything else so far, and press his back up against him.

"Ready?"

Naruto just made an annoyed sound, and scooted even closer so that they were flush up together from chest to hip and ass to cock, and he chuckled, strangled.

"You'd think with a hard-on that painful looking you'd find it less funny," the blond muttered as Kakashi slicked himself up with a palmful of lube from a hand squeezed in-between them.

"Maa, it makes it _more_ funny," (so hard he was half-_crazy_) he wiped his hands dry and moved to hold the blond up by the hips, so the boy was sort of sprawled open on his lap, small black-gloved hands bracing themselves on his forearms; then lined himself up, (-_oh god,_ he thought, and bit at his lip) the feel of that loosened opening fluttering wildly against his cock nearly made him lose his grip. But Kakashi managed to hold on, and he made himself watch those blue eyes as he sank into him, as Naruto slid slowly, slowly down. He made himself watch, and focus, as the eyes fell half-lidded, as the face twisted open, and intense, and amazed.

Because if he watched, and fretted, about the kid, he could stand ignoring that perfect _delicious_ tightness around his cock that_ screamed_ at him to _move_.

"_Oooh_," Naruto moaned, finally bottoming out, sweat filming his skin so that it _shone_. They were both breathing so hard that they shook with it, and before he could stop him, Naruto lifted up slightly and dropped down again, and Kakashi couldn't help but let out a broken gasp.

"Naruto, stop— _don't—_ I can't—"

"Do I _look_ like I _mind_?"

At which Kakashi helplessly thrust up, then continued thrusting, Naruto just twining an arm up around his neck, head thrown back, and _taking_ it with a sweet groan. He watched them both in the mirror, watching his cock disappearing in between those legs, thoughts blown away with the sweet tightness, with the boy's soft gasping sounds.

"Nnnng, _harder,_" the small hand tugged at his hair. Kakashi obeyed, tipping them sideways and then turned them both so that he was on top and pushing the blond's shoulders flat. He pulled those small hips up, Naruto readily spreading his legs apart (_god_), and then pushed in, that much harder, and—

"_Oh god—" _one of them choked, either, both. Kakashi had slipped a little and the change in angle made Naruto _writhe_. He kept that angle, pounding to the blond chanting _there_ and _god_ and _ohfuck _until the words turned wordless and the voice shrieks and the body shaking, sprawled spread-open, he reached around and tugged and Naruto _screamed, _coming violently and sobbing and jerking and Kakashi thought, _oh good, _then let himself enjoy the pulsing _perfect_ vice around his cock, the sparks of pleasure up his spine, and letting the crash of orgasm finally, _finally_ overtake him.

* * *

_...end chapter 2..._

* * *

**Authors Notes: **...still with me? XD Heh, poor Kakashi. I blue-balled him for almost 4k words.

If you liked this at all, please leave a note? Even just saying, "Liked it!" is totally awesome, and lets me know I'm doing something right.

The next chapter is more plot and more characterization. There's implied rape but it's not shown at all. There's Sandaime plotting and more chess pieces are coming into play. There will be a whisper of Jiraiya and more of ANBU!Naruto. Also, post-sex cuddling and chats.

**Random Biology fact - **Apparently ten year olds can have orgasms, which I had an idea of due to that scene of kids humping trees in The Piano. I confirmed it several places on google-search, and apparently it's a Topic of Parental Concern. The intersection of biology and sociology is a funny place, ne?

**Edit:** man, so I just read ch 440. o.o; which means in this fic universe...

Naruto: oh hay, I talked to my dad

Kakashi: ...

Naruto: he says thanks.

Kakashi: o.0;

Naruto: he also wants to cut off your balls

Kakashi: Dx

Kakashi: ... wait. he was _watching_? x.X;;;

Naruto: ... D=

* * *

_...next time..._

_"Mmm?" Naruto feels a wall of heat line up against his back, and wakes up just a little._

_"Hey," Kakashi sounds tired._

_"You're still here," he murmurs, muzzily._

_"Yeah," the warmth draws back a little, "Want me to go?"_

_"No."_

_"...Okay."_

_He feels Kakashi settle, and curl around him. He tugs at his ANBU gloves for a bit before giving it up as a lost cause, and instead pulls close the arm draping itself around his waist._

_He feels every where warm._

_He smiles and falls asleep._


	3. Act 1, Part 3

**The Sooner It Will**  
Act 1-3: You made your bed, now lie in it

.o0o.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto in any way, shape, or form.

**WARNING: **KakaNaru, ie. YAOI, ie. Male/Male. **Also, Naruto is 10 years old. Also, implied off-camera rape. DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT LIKE.**

**AN:** This chapter is fairly gen. compared to the last chapter, but with post-sex snuggles, and mostly implied blowjob, handjob, nudity, and off-camera rape.

**Thanks to: **LexandriaJade, Sony Boy, and Vanillasauce for prompts that helped with this chapter!

* * *

_...previously..._

_He doesn't want Kakashi to go. Kakashi's kinda really good looking, and his hands are kind. (He finds that hands are more honest than most faces; you can sorta feel what's going on underneath the skin, if the muscle's all cringing away, if the bones are poised to be hard.)_

_[...]_

_"If I promise not to leave this room_ _at_ least _until you've had a screaming orgasm, will you trust me?"_

_Naruto shivers at the words, at the hands, and smiles wide, "Promise?"_

* * *

"Mmm?" Naruto feels a wall of heat line up against his back, and wakes up just a little.

"Hey," Kakashi sounds tired.

"You're still here," he murmurs, muzzily.

"Yeah," the warmth draws back a little, "Want me to go?"

"No."

"...Okay."

He feels Kakashi settle, and curl around him. He tugs at his ANBU gloves for a bit before giving it up as a lost cause, and instead pulls close the arm draping itself around his waist.

He feels every where warm.

He smiles and falls asleep.

* * *

"Ugh!" Naruto squealed and Kakashi woke up to see him next to the bed making a face at his feet. "The hell is that?"

Kakashi wiggled his way to the edge and peered down. There was a nasty wet hand towel on the floor. He knew it was nasty and wet because he dropped it there.

"Clean up." He'd just barely managed to make it to the bathroom and back, last night, to grab something to wipe them both down with. Only shinobi training preventing him from stumbling on the trip, and once back on the bed he'd just stared at the towel in his hand for a moment before he simply stretched his arm away from the mattress and dropped it.

"Couldn't be bothered to put it on a table or something?" Naruto muttered and scuffed his foot clean on the area rug.

Kakashi just smiled all closed-eyed at him, "No~ope." The boy just flicked him the bird. He carefully watched Naruto walk to the bathroom then shifted himself completely back onto the bed. He was burrowing in to doze, but blinked, squirmed, fished out the black gloves he was lying on, and placed them on the bedstand.

The toilet flushed.

"Ugh, that was weird," the blond said, slipping back onto the bed, and immediately curled in then commandeered his arm for a headrest. Kakashi looked on, amused.

"Yeah, it's like that," He reached out his other hand and rubbed across Naruto's back. "Bothering you any?"

"Mmmm, not really. But keep doing that, 's nice."

Kakashi let his hand drift into a massage, fingers working into the muscles. Nice indeed. Most morning after's in his experience had been twitchy affairs, full of elbows and not meeting his eye. Granted, half the time he'd never taken off his mask, so that may have been part of the problem. Then again, the times when he _had_ taken off the mask were among the more awkward and annoying, for different reasons, so he's not sure that would solve anything.

He drifted his fingers lower, "Sore at all?" and traced a question mark onto the skin of the blond's ass. Naruto squirmed a little, ticklish, then squirmed some more in a thoughtful way.

"A bit sore, I guess, maybe. Like muscles after a good work out." Then he pouts, "Not that they'd really let me do taijutsu any more."

"Oh?" Kakashi idly returned to the massage, traveling slowly upwards to work at shoulders and arms. He'd noticed the boy wasn't really heavily built, which would help him 'pass' on this mission, but found it odd since being a demon-container would make him an ideal 'power' type fighter, designed to take hits and create openings. The groupings of the muscles he'd been feeling seemed designed more for dexterity than for either power or speed.

"Yeah, I mean they'd show me the forms, but barely let me train," he huffed. "Said I overdid it and now they're all on my case about it and watch me like a hawk."

"How did you overdo it?" Kakashi asked, only a little curious. He thought it's more likely that the trainers didn't like the Jinchuuriki. He wondered if he'd need to have a _talk_ with some people about not sabotaging a student's training.

"Eh. Don't really remember. They kept yelling about tearing some plates or something like that, though."

Wha..."You tore your _growth plates_?" he started upright.

"Yeah I think that was it! Took them _forever_ to fix it, and it was so boring! I had to just_ lie_ there!"

"Naruto." Kakashi frowned at him, settling back down and began working on the blond's forearms and hands. He's glad they fixed the tears because now he can swallow his heart back down. "Messing up those can seriously affect your height." Among other things.

The kid popped up and gaped.

"WELL WHY DIDN'T THEY SAY SO."

"_Growth._ Plates."

"Oh shaddup." Naruto flopped onto his back and huffed, annoyed. "It could've meant something else."

He stared at him. "You," he'd really meant it, Kakashi could see. "You're...," Kakashi had never felt the need before, to simultaneously smack someone upside the head and pat them down for injuries. It was a very odd sensation, "...really surprising."

"Heh, Jii-san says so too. That's how he picked my mask."

* * *

"Hey!" Naruto hops off the bed after dozing for a bit. He totally forgot.

"Huh?"

"Did they leave us any _food_?"

The silver-haired man huffs. Naruto has no _clue_ how the guy managed to make it sound like an eye-roll, but he wants to _learn_. He moves towards the room's kitchenette.

"They prepared the room for two days, check the mini-fridge," Kakashi mentions as he sits up and stretches, then slouches, scratching idly.

"Bah, I already looked, its just some random take-out crap," Naruto starts riffling through the cupboards. "Jii-san _knows_ better. And don't tell me about that basket of fruit in the bathroom, they don't count."

There's the sound of the man leaving the bed, then the creak of the fridge opening, "Mou, barbecue and stir-fry isn't too shabby."

"Lies." he absently mutters. "Ah HA!"

He raises the cup ramen, triumphant.

The silver-haired man stares, half-lidded and unimpressed, which he ignores as he fills the electric kettle with water and bounces on his toes. It may not be Ichiraku, but Ichiraku doesn't travel well and cup ramen totally does, and is awesome every time. He hands the guy a pair of chopsticks when Kakashi wanders over, bento of stir-fry and rice in hand. The man grunts in thanks and tucks in, leaning against the wall.

Water's done! And Naruto happily and carefully pours it in the cup. Then his face falls.

Three minutes, and counting.

The blond, bored, goes over and picks up the their ANBU masks, staring a bit at their designs. They weren't particularly scary, he thinks, until you see them appear suddenly in the dark. His has a wide red line around the mouth, making it look clownish.

tock. tock. tock. tock.

He idly bops the two masks together, one in each hand, while waiting for the ramen to cook.

tock.

Naruto suddenly grins.

tocktock.

"Are you making them _k__iss_?"

"Heee."

tock, tock. _rub._

Kakashi twitches.

"Does it make you feel shy~?" Naruto sing-songed, mimicking the older man at his most annoying. "Does it make you bl~ush?"

A weird edge was in Kakashi's voice as he shot back, "You know, that's probably the only way that Uwan would ever be at eye level with Ookami."

"Gah!" Naruto plays along, the white-haired guy seems worried about something but was not saying anything out loud. "When are you gonna quit it about my _height_?"

"When you get _taller_," Kakashi puts his food down, disappears, and then an apple comes _flying_ at Naruto's head.

"Oi!" Naruto juggles masks and apple, then set the masks down. He grimaces and chucks the thing back at the guy, who'd resumed eating. The jounin just dodged and the fruit made a hard wet _splat_ against the wall, where it slid down, half pulverized.

"You should eat it."

"Its not _ramen_," he says. It isn't a whine. No, _really_. Besides, there's only a minute left for the ramen to cook. And the apple's on the floor now, and kinda gross.

"You want to be short forever?" Kakashi asks lightly, in a way that didn't seem light at all.

"Ugh," Naruto mutters. "_Fine_." He leaves to grab a banana from the fruit basket and comes back shredding the skin off, dropping the peel into the kitchen sink. He then shoves the whole thing in his mouth and swallows. He barely understands how fruit can be considered a food; they're _nothing_ like ramen. "There. Happy?"

"You," Kakashi just stares and makes a weird wheezing noise, "have no gag reflex."

"A what?"

"When you want to throw up because you've tried to swallow something too large," the man says, dazed, setting aside his bento.

"That _happens_?" Naruto's amused to see the guy's dick twitch.

"Yeah." Kakashi coughs and kinda just sits down right where he stands. He hunches over in a cross-legged slouch.

Naruto simply keeps leering at him, totally unrepentant.

And Kakashi's _almost_ starting to look less uncomfortable when he blinks. And then stares down at his hands, "You might, ah, want to pretend that you're... choking, if during your mission Yatomaru makes you," and his hands _twitch_ like seeking weapons, "go down on him."

"Yeah," the blond replies quietly.

And if that isn't a mood killer, Naruto doesn't know what is.

* * *

They finished their food quietly.

Well, quietly in that when Kakashi kept launching vegetables into the boy's ramen the blond only yelled a 'little' (_Mmm? Did you say something? _he replied, and never raised his eyes from his meal), and ate it anyway.

He was thinking as he'd piled their food cartons into the sink, about the brief file on Uwan that'd been included with his mission scroll. He'd noticed that Uwan's specialties were mostly support and intel related, but the fact that he apparently had few solid combat options concerned him now, especially with the kid's upcoming mission.

"They're training you in weapons I'm gues—" He was slipping back into bed, but the boy piled on right after him, which surprised the jounin so much that he dove into an instinctive twisting grapple-hold that he aborted midway through. But that unbalanced the whole maneuver causing him to flail and nearly send them both straight off the bed. It took them a bit to untangle themselves, Naruto giggling all the way.

"Yeah, some." Naruto finally answered, flopped next to him on the bed, when Kakashi asked him again after he forgot the question, "More in kenjutsu than with throwing weapons, 'cause it's not like I can be stealthy if I'm leaving stuff behind."

"Did they give you a wakizashi instead of a katana?" He made himself comfortable, sitting up against the headboard.

"Yeah! How'd you guess?"

"If I say your height would you yell at me~?" Kakashi sing-songed, simper in his voice.

Naruto just pinched him in the side.

He made a pout and rubbed it a bit, and asked 'carelessly', "Mou, _some_ training in kenjutsu? No advanced techniques?"

"Well I don't really need to specialize in kenjutsu anyways. I'm not gonna use it much, later."

"You sound very sure of that," Kakashi looked at him, and said slowly.

"Yeah. Most of the really cool things you do with swords need you to channel chakra through the metal," the boy scooted up and leaned against him, back to his side.

"And with the Nine Tails, you'd possibly melt the steel."

"Mm! And they keep saying that I'd be best at something called a 'power' taijutsu fighting style, and it'll keep my hands free for ninjutsu. Though I can't use taijutsu too well right now. Ninjutsu either, 'cause my control's not too good," the boy scoffs, "But just you wait, I'm getting better all the time!"

Kakashi felt slowly mounting alarm, that apparently the boy didn't notice.

"That's why I'm still going to the Academy, 'cause they're not bothering to teach me more than the basics when we can focus on the other stuff!"

"_Other_ stuff?" The alarm ceased to grow 'slowly', Kakashi was starting to feel like he was choking on it.

"Yeah, infiltrations stuff." The boy moved to put some room between them. Then he ran his hands through his hair a bit, flattening bits down, blinked, shook himself, changed his posture.

And then suddenly there was this _waif_ in the bed, brittle-looking, with the feel of something half-starved around the eyes, which were large and liquid and seemed to say, _break me_.

Kakashi's eyes widened. Both of them. "You're not using a genjutsu."

"No, sir. There are people skilled enough to catch even the best ones. But there is nothing to catch with— _this_." And the waif sheds itself to become Naruto, who grins. "I'm kinda crap at genjutsu, but I can sense _through_ them pretty good, and they don't bother with anything real strong on civilians that didn't hire shinobi."

"This is why they thought picking you would be a good idea?" Kakashi growled.

"Eeh?"

"For your mission. Since Kawa Yatomaru's a jounin-level missing-nin specializing in seals and genjutsu."

"Yup. Henge won't work on him."

Kakashi feels the fear and the rage boil, and crack open, at the boy's mindless words. "_Why_?" Its a shout purely due to intensity, rather than volume. "Why _you_? It's a _death sentence_, once you're in you'd have no _backup_ and they didn't train you for combat— What were they _thinking_?"

"Hey hey! I can do it, you'll see!"

"He's _j__ounin-level_, and you've just told me you have Academy level, _maybe _genin level combat skills. What if something goes wrong?"

"You..."

Kakashi turns his face away; maybe the kid's finally catching on, and he doesn't want to watch him become afraid—

"You're scared." Naruto says instead, sounding surprised. "For me."

Kakashi whips his head around to glare and lets the roaring _fury_ just _blast_ through the room. Why was the Hokage _doing_ this, asking _him_ to send _Minato's son_ off to _die_ after he'd _fucked __him_? And the boy's going in unknowing, and with a _smile_.

Naruto looks back at him levelly, and scratches at the back of his head, and blows out a long, long breath. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone about this. But." He looks firm. "It's not like you're gonna use it against me. And the Jii-san says you're discreet. And you're over-reacting."

And then he disappears.

And Kakashi blinks, all the fury collapsing into a confusion just as deep.

He closes his right eye and looks around with the Sharingan. Nothing. No image. No scent. No sound. No chakra signal. Not even Iwa's Meisaigakure no Jutsu stands up to the copy eye, and Kakashi knows _that_ jutsu is an A-rank. And he would have sensed a Shushin or any jutsu that used movement. He shakily reaches out a hand and his hand touches hair.

"Found me," Naruto appears, slouching, and grins while straightening. "Thanks for trying to poke me in the eye."

Kakashi looks at him with disbelief.

"And that's why I can go on intel missions," he states, then shrugs, "I'd rather not use it too much though, I don't want people knowing about it. And it'd be better for Kawa to think that I'm dead than for me to just disappear. But worse comes to worse, he can't _really _kill me. 'Cause he won't be able to find me."

_And if the kid never attacks, he can never be found, unless he wants himself to be, _Kakashi thinks, amazed.

"I'm going to survive the mission," Naruto says, determined.

Kakashi just keeps staring at him.

"Er. You okay?"

"What did you _do_?" he bursts out, "No hand seals, no chakra. It's not a Shushin or the Hirashin, and I can see through the Meisaigakure so it can't be that." The Meisaigakure was an A-rank jutsu that controlled light with chakra to make the user invisible, but the chakra can be detected via eye bloodlines such as the Sharingan. Kakashi can never forget the jutsu despite never having seen it with Obito's eye because that was the mission he was given that eye as a gift.

"Heh, it's actually just the Kakuremino no Jutsu. I can't really use other jutsu with it up, though. Or move real quick 'cause the edges start rippling. I mean, I can run with it on in front of a genin, but jounin can spot me."

The Copy Nin makes a sound inbetween a laugh and a choke. An _E-rank _jutsu that held up under the Sharingan? "But you didn't even use a _sheet_ to anchor the camouflage."

Naruto grimaces, "It's actually harder for me with the sheet."

"Harder," Kakashi's head is starting to hurt, "...with the sheet." He closes both eyes. It doesn't help.

"I told you, I'm no good at genjutsu."

"So you blended with your surroundings with chakra and, no, that doesn't make sense," the jounin cracks open his right eye, frustrated, "I didn't _see_ any chakra."

Naruto scratches at his head, "Yeah, that surprised me too. The Byakugan can see a shape though, but it can't see _through_ it, and it kinda makes their eyes hurt."

"The Bya-" Kakashi shakes his head, "From the beginning. It's a Kakuremino without the sheet?"

"Yeah."

"What do you have instead of the sheet?"

"Chakra."

"But I didn't see any—" Kakashi takes a deep breath and pinches the top of his nose. The blond opens his mouth but the Copy Nin just holds up a hand and thinks.

"Okay, what do you do with the chakra."

"I push it out around me and make it really, really flat."

"You make it flat."

"Yeah."

"...really flat."

"Yeah. And really still."

"Still. And you just hold it there?"

"Yup."

"Ah. That would be how. You're not controlling the light directly with chakra, light and sound just bend _around_ it. Smell can't get through." the genius says, brain working and mouth more on autopilot than under his control, "And the Sharingan sees chakra _flow_, but the Byakugan sees _chakra. _And the chakra itself is difficult to sense when it's completely still."

"Uhh. Okay." It's clear that the chakra theory is almost completely lost on the kid. Which means he probably created the Kakuremino variation based on intuition _alone_. The _hell_.

Kakashi feels like he's just experienced five years worth of surprise in the space of five minutes. The kid apparently has fucking _kage-level_ abilities in chakra _shape_ manipulation but shitty chakra _control. _The irony in that is ridiculous. And it explains that perfectly executed girl Henge, since the Henge jutsu was basically manipulated emitted chakra. Thinking further about it, the chakra control issues are probably due to the Nine Tails' chakra randomly flaring up underneath the surface of Naruto's, which would make judging chakra output (during the molding step) into a crap shoot. In the hands of _Tsunade_. Yet the boy is 'getting better all the time' at it.

Fucking _hell_.

Kakashi flops forwards, slouching and staring at his lap, emotionally and mentally worn. "My head hurts," he mutters, almost piteously.

He just leans in when small hands start to pet his hair.

* * *

Naruto's not entirely unsympathetic to Kakashi's confusion. Not only was the whole situation really not normal, but every one of his teachers and Jii-san say he's very unpredictable and makes their head hurt. It's not like he's hurting them on _purpose_ either, so he's not gonna stop, 'cause if he'd have to choose between being himself or trying to be what other people think he should be so they'd be less surprised, well, they're just gonna have to be surprised, believe it. 'Cause like, between being the Jinchuuriki and the Yondaime's son, most people think he should be dead, and Naruto is totally determined to surprise them by being otherwise.

He was surprised _himself_ today, too. Kakashi was _so_ angry_, _he'd filled the room with pissed-off-ness and killing intent, vibrating and rolling and honey-thick. And for him. Kakashi was angry because he was afraid for _him_.

It feels like a bubble of laughter in his chest, Naruto thinks, like a tiny sun. He's really glad Jii-san introduced them. He continues to pet the spiky hair, and amuses himself with turning the hair this way and that in the light. This way its silver, that way its white. Kinda like a magic trick.

Kakashi eventually looks up and flatly says, "You. Are Konoha's number one most surprising nin."

"Thanks!" Naruto chirrups, grinning, _He understands!_

He's reminded that he wants to try giving a blowjob. 'Cause even though the seduction teachers made it sound like it'd be a sure thing that he'd choke and then it'd be all awful, apparently he _can't_ choke, so it'll probably be _fun_.

Naruto decides he'll be nice and ask for it when Kakashi's all recovered and teasing him again.

* * *

_This kid is going to be the death of me, _Kakashi thought, wildly, and came.

He'd gone to take a shower, while the blond made himself more ramen; and then he was hauling Naruto by fireman's hold into the bathroom for the blond's turn, when he was poked in the back and was asked very politely to be set down.

The politeness was so strange that he did so immediately. Suddenly he found two small hands on his hipbones pushing him towards the wall and determined-mischievous eyes looking up at him and a very clear voice saying, "Hey, I wanna try giving you a blowjob." And then the blond did just that, without waiting for a response. Not that he'd _had _a response.

Kakashi just tried to hang on, to the wall and his sanity, and he wasn't sure how much of a hold he'd kept on either. (No gag reflex _at all, _his mind had gibbered, and he'd thrust involuntarily, then the blond made a pleased sound and looked up and _laughed_, which was pretty much the beginning of an embarrassingly quick end.)

He panted, and slid down the wall.

He hadn't planned on touching the boy again, in that way, but also hadn't run from the room after last night despite wanting to because the idea of leaving Naruto behind- the idea of _leaving him __alone_ in that room for the rest of the two days they had, while Naruto waited for his body to heal and reset so that the boy could pass as 'untouched', that. That made Kakashi's stomach curdle and Obito's eye _burn_. Kakashi had thought that he'd use the time to get to know Minato's son, and, if necessary, and thank god it wasn't, apply for him the healing agents in the room's med kit that the mission scroll mentioned.

But Naruto had apparently other plans and now looked unspeakably smug, and also hard. (_In for a penny..._) Kakashi hoisted him close, "Here let me—" and was ducking his head in when fingers covered his mouth.

"No, um." And the boy looked kind of embarrassed. "Use your hands."

He blinked his eyes down at the kid's penis worriedly, uncomfortably, "Did my teeth scrape you last night?" His hands spasmed. God, he felt awkward.

"No!" Naruto darted his fingers forward and rubbed at Kakashi's forehead until he felt his frown disappear despite himself, "No, I just," and stoked his fingers down the back of Kakashi's knuckles. "It's just, you have... nice hands."

Kakashi doesn't know why that provoked a blush, and he knew that 'nice' wasn't what the kid really wanted to say, but he wanted to move past the awkwardness, and felt accommodating since the awkward was such an easy one to fix.

It was probably the weirdest and most intense handjob he ever gave (which, given his experience, was _saying_ something); the softest little smile lingered at the edges of the blond's mouth the whole time, he'd felt it against his shoulder as Naruto gasped into it, and despite not even meeting those blue eyes, he felt like he was being flayed open and _read_.

* * *

It was 0500 hours, on the third day.

The room was aired out, the seals taken down, surfaces wiped, and the sheets were bagged with the towels and the trash. Naruto had fished out their sandals, Kakashi had found him his gloves, they had snapped on their armor, piece by piece.

Naruto brings them their ANBU masks, and catches at the jounin's hand as he reaches out to take his. He presses a kiss into Kakashi's palm, and whispers into it, "Thank you."

The older man's fingertips catch at his cheeks a little, before they pull away, and move to open the door.

"Maa, I almost forgot." Kakashi asks lightly, "Who were your seduction instructors?"

"...why?" it's not that Naruto doesn't trust him, really, but with that much fake innocence dripping off a guy, well. Then again, maybe the silver-haired man _is_ telling him exactly what he's going to do, without saying as much.

"No reason."

"Liar," Naruto snorts. The instructors didn't like him much, he could tell, and he didn't like them much either, 'cause they were kinda all creepy-smiles, but he doesn't know if he's willing to let Kakashi be all evil at them when he didn't even know _why_ the guy was pissed off. He's sure that the white-haired man had a really good time with him, 'cause Naruto trusts his instincts, but they also told him that Kakashi was feeling like he needs to squish something.

"I want to talk to them."

Uwan just eyeballs the man as they pull on their masks, and finally says, "You know, you can probably just ask the Hokage."

"Hmm, you know, you're right. I can." And Ookami looks dangerous, and thoughtful. "I've been meaning to talk to him anyway."

Uwan shrugs. Weird. Let the old man deal with this, he could probably figure it out.

* * *

_What was your first time like?_

_Mmm, rushed. And pretty simple. We'd just used our hands._

_Smirk._

_Mou, I was with someone my age. It was his first too._

_Your age?_

_We were thirteen._

_So they must be really strong now right?_

_I dunno. They died during the Nine Tails' attack._

_Oh._

_Shrug. I'd lost track of them long before it happened. Tackle. And don't look like that, it's not your fault._

He thinks back to those two days, to that bed, to the laughter and the intensity and the pleasure. He remembers the hands holding him, and saying a very many things, like_ I don't want to hurt you_ and _you are brave_ and_ you are precious_.

He tries to keep these memories close, pulls them around him like his Kakuremino, to keep away the other ones. It mostly works.

* * *

Kawa Yatomaru is a paranoid seal master. His bedroom is his office and it is plastered with crawling lines of chakra-laced ink that open only to his own blood. Jiraiya himself cannot get in unescorted without the entire room imploding. The only ones he lets in are the most trusted of his shinobi and his entertainment. And while his team have been loyal for years, and rarely change, he gets bored of his entertainment usually within a day or two because he likes them fresh.

Yatomaru's newer genin-level shinobi are usually assigned the elimination and disposal duty, because he finds it to be a good test of character. It says something of the man that he meant this in all seriousness.

It was the rainy season when one of them was given the order to execute and dispose of the blue-eyed street rat. The genin did not recognize the Kawarimi; though to be fair the body switch was very well done, it was nighttime and raining, and he'd never before encountered such a solid Henge.

A log was thrown into a ditch with many small bodies. The ditch was quickly filling with water and mud.

And even if a jounin knew where to look, they'd still be hard pressed to see the small figure moving slowly in the twilight.

(_Because the figure didn't want to be seen, so he wasn't._)

* * *

"—and the suspicions were correct, their leader is moving from this location to Kawa Yatomaru's base in a month." Uwan's finger pointed at the map, "That other location also appears to function as a main base, and they're planning on setting up more, here, here, and here."

"He's making independent cells," Sarutobi said slowly, "A gamble; but ingenious if your priority is having a bolt hole."

"Yeah."

"Any idea of the size of guard that he's traveling with?"

"None confirmed, but I think it will be more than four. Also there was a roster of their shinobi on Yatomaru's desk," Uwan handed over a list, in his own handwriting. "I'm pretty sure I have all of them, at least the missing-nin genin and chunin. There's probably unlisted jounin-level nin, but that's to be expected. The list was divided by location, some of them are already in Konoha."

Sarutobi scanned the list and pulled at his pipe "We were aware of most of these, but a few are surprising." He did not ask, "Are you sure of this information?"

So Uwan did not reply, "Yeah, because I was fucked over his desk."

(it was in his eyes, and Sarutobi read it easily enough, even if they were almost hidden behind the mask)

"We have enough men to handle this, however I would prefer dedicated teams to handle the genin and chunin. There will be some members prioritized for capture, but this entire group is slotted for extermination." The Sandaime sighed, looking at the boy pretty much vibrating to be asked the question his statements were leading up to, "Do you wish to be part of one of these teams?"

"Yes." Uwan said, eager.

Hiruzen was proud of his shinobi.

When Ookami had come in two and a half weeks ago, he had not shouted. He didn't even swear. He'd just spoke, insolence and outrage dripping from every tenketsu. He'd talked about Naruto's age and talked about his personality and talked about the seduction 'experts' that didn't do their job right and nearly _let the boy tear himself open_.

Hiruzen had dropped his eyes at that, turning his pipe upside down and trying to tap it clean.

The ANBU had continued unabated, questioning the mission's planning, the lack of backup, the situation; questioning the appropriateness of using the boy and the need for Naruto's mission itself.

"Are you done?" the Hokage had asked, when he paused to take a breath.

"Am I?" Kakashi had answered, thickly. He'd removed the ceramic mask and looked at it thoughtfully. Then reached over to place it on the desk.

Sarutobi had quickly slipped an opened mission scroll under it, the back of his hand preventing the ceramic from hitting the wood, the edges of the paper curling. "One last mission. You'll understand why."

Kakashi had slowly withdrawn the mask and hooked it on his belt, scooped up the scroll with his other hand. As he read it, his eyes had narrowed. "You want to leave Konoha?"

"For four days."

"Danzo?"

"That's why you will assign someone with a good Henge to sit in my place."

"...a Hokage normally does not leave the village."

"The situation calls for it. The next time that he will be as weak will be in three years."

"His movements are confirmed?"

"Not yet." The Sandaime looked steadily into Kakashi's eyes, "There is an operative getting that information as we speak."

The man's fingers twitched.

Hiruzen had kept his gaze firm, "This will not leave the room: Orochimaru has an immortality jutsu that requires that he transfers bodies every three years, and he is planning to use Kawa's. If we're understanding the jutsu right, he integrates their skills and souls as well."

He'd watched as Kakashi's thoughts affected his posture; horror, he guesses, that became determination. It was certainly how Hiruzen had felt.

"I will engage my wayward student myself. But we need to prepare for his guard, and to subdue Yatomaru's compound. Form and prepare an excess number of squads; in fact, call it mandatory training exercises, until we hear back from Uwan."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Ookami had replied, sliding on his wolf-mask, and turned to leave.

"Kakashi?" the Sandaime had called out.

"Mmm?" the ceramic mask only tilted a little in his direction, not turning around.

Hiruzen thought of the various lucky and unlucky circumstances of his life; of birth, of power, of students. Of student's student's. He thought of legacies, of things that he would allow to prevent more horror, only to beget yet more horrible things. He'd let Orochimaru live, once. Let it known Naruto was the Jinchuuriki. Let Naruto into ANBU. Let Naruto take that mission. That the seduction experts didn't indirectly cause more damage, because they feared a demon, was possibly a testament to Naruto's indefatigable personality. And a testament to Kakashi. So he said to the silver-haired man, "I'm glad I trusted you."

"I'm still loyal," he'd replied carefully, his back to the Hokage, "to Konoha."

"I know." Hiruzen had said, not looking away, "I know."

Hiruzen is still, deeply, proud of his shinobi. And felt glad, and just the littlest bit smug, that soon Kakashi's finally leaving the Black Ops; he wasn't willing to bodily throw him out, but the man was long overdue for a break. Also it was good that Kakashi was seeing more of the darker side of a Kage's decision making, and questioning it, because it was good experience for the young man. Because it's good for _Konoha_ to have contingency plans and while the Copy Nin wouldn't be mentally (let alone emotionally) ready for the position for years yet, Sarutobi wasn't getting any younger.

(_Circles within circles_, the Professor thinks.)

And even at this moment he is deeply proud as he watches Uwan leave his office after his mission debriefing, and he is unsurprised that the emotion was accompanied by guilt and sadness because they three are never far apart from each other these days. The boy is unbroken, unashamed, unafraid, and while shadows lurks in his eyes and around his shoulders they did not overwhelm him.

The Sandaime makes a promise to himself that he will see those shadows gone, whatever it takes.

But first.

Sarutobi cut his finger and sent for his fastest summon. He gave him a slip of paper with a coded time and location. "Find Jiraiya, he should be in Rice Country. Give him the paper, tell him,

'_We're going snake hunting. __Bring the rope_.'"

* * *

_...end chapter three..._

* * *

**AN:** Did you like the chapter? If so, please leave a short review? "It's good." or "It sucks!" or "It's cute!" or "Write more." all counts. =) Even leaving a short response encourages me to write more.

And OROCHIMARU. Are you making an 'omg!' face? What I'd like to know is if you'd realized that they were after Orochimaru earlier than at the end, and if so, where? Is it too confusing at parts?

**Kawa Yatomaru** - Kawa = Skin and "Yato-no-kami are snake deities. They were rumored to bring familial extermination on anyone who saw them, but were eventually killed by a man clearing the fields." (wikipedia) ie. Snake Skin.

ie. Orochimaru integrating the soul of a pedophile into his consciousness. Yeah, in this fic I'm blaming the creepy pedo-ness of Orochimaru on a soul he ate when he took over a new body. ^_^V

So here's where I COULD say that I made Naruto ten years old just to make all the timing work out, but I'd be lying. (I was just very lucky that the timing did work out so perfectly.) I'm really just a horrible person that wants to make Kakashi cry inside and be ridiculously!conflicted, and maybe make two or ten characters on the sidelines make "WTF" face.

I'm simple like that.

Also I'm a size queen so teeny!Naruto w/ Kakashi is just... unf! x.x

**Height - **Oh, speaking of which, doing some research on naruto wikia, according to them Kakashi is not actually six feet tall. =\ He's actually about 5'9.3" (181 cm), incidentally roughly half an inch taller than Minato who's 5'8.7" (179.2 cm).

I looked up Naruto's growth patterns:  
12 yrs = 145.3 cm = 4'7"  
13 yrs = 147.5 cm = 4'8"  
15-16 yr = 166 cm = 5'4"

and he seems to be consistently lurking around the 25th percentile of the boy's growth chart.

By that token, unless he's hit a ridiculous growth spurt, he'll never end up more than 5'6". Even with the growth spurt he'll probably never end up taller than Minato because Kushina was on the lower end of the girl's heights...unless of course, you blame it on the demon.

And, extrapolating backwards, at 10 yrs, he'd be about 4'4" (134 cm). *_* TEENY.

Then AGAIN, examining the manga, in particular the pages during the initial bell test and Haku's funeral, Naruto is clearly way more than a foot shorter than Kakashi. So either Kakashi's really six feet tall or Naruto's even _shorter_. ::confused:: Consistency thy name is not Kishimoto.

**Meisaigakure no Jutsu - Camouflage Jutsu. **Appeared in Kakashi Gaiden, bends light around it to create invisibility, can be seen through with the Sharingan.

**Kakuremino no Jutsu - Disguise Jutsu.** Used with a covering, like a sheet; was often done incorrectly by Konohamaru when he was trying to fool Naruto.

**Chakra Theory -** This fic's chakra theory was arrived at via a combination of the naruto wikia site and my own observations of some of the manga images and storyline. I'm not sure how well it relates to the anime. Most of Naruto's key skills are some form of expressed chakra that's almost completely shaped outside (Henge, Rasengan, assumed Kage Bushin); so you know, I worked it into fic.

**Power fighter type -** "Exemplifies raw power, charging straight in and clearing a path through the enemy's defensive line, making a way in for the rest of the team. [...] An 'Offensive' fighting style is favored by 'power' types like Naruto and the Fourth Raikage, A, utilize brute force in combat." (naruto wikia) And there's nearly no force more overwhelming than the Nine Tails.

**Growth Plates - **Cartilage near the joints that eventually become bone, damage may cause crooked limbs, nerve and blood vessel damage, infections and other nasty things. Yeah, seriously, don't be stupid and train until you pass out when you're 5 years old. That Kakashi's height wasn't completely fucked up due to being in a war I take as a testament both to his ridiculous amount of skill and Minato being a mother hen.

**Wakizashi v. Katana -** The katana is part of the typical ANBU uniform. The wakizashi is of a similar make to the katana, just shorter (1ft~2ft vs. 2ft+). Naruto, being a wee bit more than 4 feet tall, would either have to learn modified stances/katas so that his katana wouldn't drag on the ground, or he could learn kenjutsu _right _but with the shorter wakizashi. I chose to have his teacher be hardcore.

**Nakedness - **I don't know how obvious it was to other people but, no clothes were involved in this chapter until they left the room. ::grin::

Thanks goes to InARealPickle who'd caught a mistake. =D

**Note: **next chapter will include plots, battle, and PTSD. Also some explicit sex (only during the scenes in the middle).

* * *

_...next time..._

_"__Sarutobi__."_

_The Sandaime looked up at the unfamiliarly hard tone in his student's voice. He was unsurprised at what he saw and gestured him closer. He does not want the words of their conversation to carry, and he has an idea about what it might be about. He hand signaled, Quietly._

_Jiraiya's face twisted, "There was only one way you could've gotten confirmation."_

_"Before we'd have to wait another three years, yes."_

_"...who was the child?"_

_"Jiraiya," Sarutobi sighed. _

_"Who?"_

_"It's classified."_

_"I am not some __administrative lackey__. Who_ was _it?"_

_"Jiraiya. __Y__ou already know." There was no need to say, this mission could only be trusted to an ANBU. There was no need to remind him of their youngest member._

_"_Dammit_."_


	4. Act 1, Part 4

**The Sooner It Will**  
Act 1-4: You made your bed, now lie in it

.o0o.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto in any way, shape, or form.

**WARNING:** KakaNaru, ie. YAOI, ie. Male/Male. **Also, Naruto is 10 years old.** Also, hard yaoi and implied rape. **DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT LIKE.**

**AN:** This chapter has explicit underage sex, and rimming. It's in the middle if you want know, to avoid it, or wait for the next chapter. There's some violence in the battle at the end and in the teaser.

The next chapter has alot of violence, but not really any explicit sex.

**Thanks to:** Jormun, Sony Boy, Nightmaric for awesome prompts that made me write quickly!

* * *

_...previously..._

_And even at this moment he is deeply proud as he watches Uwan leave his office after his mission debriefing, and he is unsurprised that the emotion was accompanied by guilt and sadness because they three are never far apart from each other these days. The boy is unbroken, unashamed, unafraid, and while shadows lurks in his eyes and around his shoulders they did not overwhelm him._

_The Sandaime makes a promise to himself that he will see those shadows gone, whatever it takes._

* * *

Ookami heard the soft _bamf! _of Shushin and wasn't surprised when the door opened again. He didn't expect Hibagon or Ikiryou to arrive together however, and made note of it silently.

Namazu having arrived earlier, the catfish-masked woman was already pouring over the newly available maps and intel that the Hokage had handed him, her specialty being wide-area destruction jutsu and siege tactics.

"We have confirmation?" Ikiryou asked, and despite it not being anywhere near a whisper the words still felt like they were barely audible.

Ookami knew of the ANBU only distantly; even though they were both in Assassination, their methods and assignments were different. Where Ookami was a sword, designed to intimidate and to pierce through armor, Ikiryou was a stiletto, and was never meant to be seen. Or heard, the wolf-masked ANBU mused, as he responded to the not-a-whisper.

"Yes. Orochimaru will move in a month. The Hokage has decided to ambush him right before arrival at Yatomaru's base; we will need squads formed to tie up his guards and to suppress the base itself. We have a partial roster of their lower ranked nin so we have some idea of what to expect." Ookami raised a shoulder questioningly, "The Hokage indicated that plans have already been drawn up to attack the compound."

Ikiryou and Hibagon both nodded, and Hibagon reached into his pouch and pulled out a thick and tightly furled scroll.

"Ey, you both worked on this?" Namazu reached over, plucked it from Hibagon's hands, and started skimming it. "Not bad, not bad, solid, for the intel you had. Eh, what's this? Extraction plans?"

Ookami tamped down on his sudden curiosity; _watch and overhear_, his instincts said.

Hibagon shrugged, with his large shoulders it looked like a mountain was scratching itself. "Those won't be necessary anymore. Would've removed them first, but you jumped the hog."

Namazu just waved absently and started laying the pre-made plans and the partial map side-by-side with the confirmed layout and her notes.

"We'll need to pull this together quickly," Ookami stated. "The ANBU should start seeding themselves into the area two weeks beforehand to prep the ambush. But some squads need to be reorganized due to the new information we got on their shinobi, and they require at least a week if not more to get their teamwork up to speed. That just barely gives us enough time."

The others nodded and they got down to work, the siege complicated by the ambush happening simultaneously, the need to capture some members alive, and the retrieval of Konoha's kidnapped children.

When everybody had a good rhythm going, Ookami raised his head from the paperwork on the squads he'd been restructuring and lightly asked, "Are any of you familiar with Uwan? I've orders to add him to a squad, but I haven't heard much about him, and his data's sparse."

It was even almost true, most of Uwan's records were classified, and while Ookami's work in Combat and Tactics brought him into contact with many of the ANBU, those in Infiltration or Assassination usually worked solo missions or, rarely, in a permanent pair. The fact that Ikiryou was working with them indicated he himself was the source of at least some of their information regarding the location they were currently studying; the same location as the mission Uwan was sent on.

Ookami's instincts reminded him, also, _Ikiryou is a stealth expert._

But _both_ Hibagon and the assassin tensed. It was just the slightest, but they were ANBU and _all_ of ANBU were trained in stealth and self-control, even if they never specialize. For both of them to be so affected... Ookami kept his gaze easy and himself loose-limbed. "You both know him then?"

"Yeah." Hibagon answered shortly. "The Hokage wants him added to a squad?"

Ookami nodded, "One of the ones assigned to tracking and retrieving genin and chunin who are making a run for it."

The bear-like man tapped a nail against the table thoughtfully and exchanged a glance with the soft-spoken assassin. "Hmm, put him on mine."

"Yours is further afield and tracking down jounin," he pointed out and raised an eyebrow.

"They might be traveling with subordinates. And the guy's good at support, we work well together." Hibagon's mask was a dark snarling beast and it smiled at him.

"As you will," Ookami shrugged, and made a note on the paper and several in his head. The tilt of Namazu's mask, even as she'd kept her eyes on her own paper, indicated she was listening; but either had nothing to say or was choosing not speak up.

They continued working.

Eventually Namazu yelled for a food and stretch break. Those who had summons, namely Ookami and Ikiryou, sent them off with food orders from the others. Kakashi removed his ceramic mask because not only was it break, but it was kind of pointless trying to hide his identity among ANBU, or, for that matter, most shinobi. (The tragedy of a famous father and an infamous eyeball.) It was one of the reasons why his style focused more on power rather than on stealth.

Like it was a signal, the other ANBU removed their masks. Namazu was a fairly average looking woman, brown-haired, her mouth a little too wide to make her pretty until you noticed her snapping eyes. It fit her catfish mask, Kakashi thought. Hibagon had the strong, solid features his body-type suggested at, black hair, a heavy jawline, and a large nose. Ikiryou was fairly forgettable.

Kakashi stayed by the door after sending out Pakkun, he was rather hungry and slouched against the wall, pulling out his book. The others tried to draw him into conversation, but they weren't saying much that was interesting so he ignored them.

Hibagon huffed, eye twitching. He then leaned back in his chair, balancing on one leg, and turned to Ikiryou.

"He pulled it off." Hibagon said heavily.

"He pulled it off." Ikiryou replied, in that same not-quiet way that seemed like a whisper.

"Balls of _steel_, I swear."

"I still can't believe he went through with it." This was even more of a whisper than his other statements. Kakashi was paying careful attention despite not looking like it, and even then only barely caught the trace of guilt in his voice.

_Guilt?_ Kakashi thought.

"You thought he wouldn't make it back?" the large man protested.

"There's more than one way of not returning, you know that." Ikiryou replied.

The assassin was to Hibagon's left, the female ANBU was on his right, the empty seat towards the doorway by where Kakashi was slouched. It was how he saw Hibagon's left eye independently turn to Ikiryou, with a look that was sympathetic and a little anguished; the eye closest to Namazu didn't change. Kakashi was impressed by the finesse that displayed, only true taijutsu masters have such fine control in their muscles, and while Gai had the muscle control, he didn't have the inclination to be so subtle. (Also, the fact that Hibagon was sharing sympathy and anguish with Ikiryou was very telling. Either they were in some sort of messy love triangle with a random third person or...)

"Ey, what are you guys talking about?" Namazu asked lazily, slightly miffed at the vague speech between the two.

Hibagon's left eye and Ikiryou exchanged a look.

"The operative that us got this information," the huge man finally replied, waving at the table, a strange tone in his voice.

(...or they know Naruto, Kakashi thought, with triumph.)

"Tch. The guy must be pretty good, they have a tight setup here," she tapped at the maps.

"He's the best stealth expert we have," the assassin said calmly, smooth as dust in sunlight. It drew everyone's eyes because, while not as famous as the Copy Nin, among Konoha ANBU the man's stealth skills were spoken of widely and with awe and respect.

"That's high praise, ey. Very high praise. But," the catfish ANBU leaned forward, "I find it interesting: you don't sound jealous."

"I trained him," it was said gently, but roughened with a small amount of frustration, and with pride.

"Hah, no wonder."

Hibagon chuckled, "Yeah it's almost a pity the Hokage doesn't want him on assassinations, he has the skill for it." Kakashi recognized what that tone was, now and from before, because it was the same blend of frustration and pride found in Ikiryou's voice.

"Ey? Why doesn't the Hokage want him, if he can_ take_ the missions?"

Ikiryou was looking at Hibagon sternly, and the bear-like man's left eye was apologetic.

"It's classified." Hibagon demurred.

"Right." The woman looked at the two of them, and shrugged easily. It was a common response when talking among ANBU.

"Food's here." Kakashi announced and snapped his book shut. When he opened the door the smell of their meals hit the members inside.

"Better nose than the Inuzuka, eh?" Namazu chuckled and fetched her box.

"What I _still_ can't understand," Hibagon muttered, as they ate, "Is how he manages to eat around _ANBU_ without anyone catching him with his mask off." They both turned to the stealth expert.

Ikiryou shrugged and not quite whispered, "I would like to know as well."

They all looked at Kakashi, but his bento was already empty. They looked at him then, with disbelief.

"Se~cret." Kakashi sing-songed, and opened his Icha Icha, a part of his mind busy with other things.

* * *

They'd separated for sleep and showers after two days straight of working and arguing over the plans, and frankly they all needed it. Planning an invasion was pain-staking work, to make strategies that everyone knew in the back of their minds might not survive first contact. Kakashi actually didn't plan on the sleeping part, he just took a soldier pill and started sending messages to the squad captains regarding the new teams and the mandatory meeting in one and a half days.

He found himself finishing early, so went back to the Tower and settled into a nook to read. He decided it had been a very good plan because he managed to catch a certain conversation.

"So how is he?" was asked, like a whisper.

"Surprisingly fine, actually," roughly, relieved, voice like a mountain settling.

"That tells me nothing," very flat.

"He looks okay, still chipper," there was a pause. "But we sparred a little and his reactions are kinda off." Quietly, "And he kinda startles. Just a bit."

"...startles? _Him_?"

"Yeah."

"We should have Mujina talk to him."

"She's on that long-term mission in Suna though," strained.

"Damn."

It looked like Kakashi was going to have to talk to the Hokage, good thing he has a reputation of being late to meetings.

* * *

It was two days after that, after a whirlwind of plans and meetings, when all the ANBU captains were brought up to speed and separated to inform their squads, that Kakashi finally had the time to check in on the kid. When he'd raised his concerns to the Hokage, the old man had simply looked at him thoughtfully and suggested he go talk to Naruto, giving him the boy's address.

"Talk to him?" he'd asked in mild disbelief. "That will help?"

"If it's with people familiar to him and that he trusts, yes."

"You think he trusts me?" he'd kept his face flat and bored and expressionless. It was a bit difficult.

"You believe that he doesn't?" The Sandaime had looked at him, and it felt like he was raising his eyebrow. "You knew him from before, and you already have clearance to know his mission details. I could see that he was...satisfied with what occurred during your time together, when I caught sight of him just before he'd left for the gates."

Kakashi had held himself very still, tensed, slouched.

"There's a shadow in his eyes now, Kakashi. And I would see it gone." Sarutobi had looked at his desk, then, "Talk to him."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The tone in the Sandaime's voice had nearly made it an order, so the Copy Nin had responded in kind.

Which was why Kakashi was now slipping into Naruto's apartment via his window.

"Yo."

"Coming to check on me too?" Naruto flicked his eyes toward him then continued looking out the window.

"Too?" He slipped in the small space between the window and the bed to lean on the wall furthest from the boy. He pulled out his Icha Icha and tried to find a mellow bit.

"My kenjutsu instructor told me to take a day off already, so you can just drop it."

"Did he?" Kakashi flipped a page, hmm, battle scene. That'll do.

"I don't _need_ a day off." Naruto punched his mattress.

"I heard you were startling at things you shouldn't have."

"I don't startle," the boy muttered, "_he_ does."

Kakashi blinked and snapped the book closed, resting his hand on his hip. "Should I be concerned?" Talking in third person is somewhat odd, even for nin.

The boy grimaced at him, and huffed, "I don't know how much you know of what intel guys do, you've kept mostly in Tactics and Assassination right?"

He nodded.

"Okay, like, you don't really 'pretend' to be other people. It's too easy to mess up. The person you change into is still _you_, but a small part of you, or who you used to be, that's made... bigger, louder I guess, and covers the rest."

"And you let the personality slide back when the mission is over?" The Copy Nin guessed, "Like chakra in a Henge?"

"Yeah. But it's not," and the small body was defensive, "going back into place, like it did before." The boy was still not looking at him so Kakashi pulled the book back up.

"Your mission was very-" Kakashi tried to find a word. Couldn't.

"Yeah, it 'was'," Naruto snorted and flopped backwards to stare at the ceiling. "Hey, thanks by the way."

"Aa?"

"You helped," the blond shrugged uneasily. "Remembering, helped. During."

Kakashi slipped the book into a pocket and wanted to fidget, awkward, walked forward to look down at him in the eye, "You're welcome."

The blue eyes held him, solemn, and searching, thoughts flickering behind them faster than he could catch. And he was so busy trying to figure out what to do next that he was caught off-guard when Naruto _climbed_ him, hand over fist, yanked him down with a handful of shirt, then a handful of mask, then met him with a mouthful of tongue.

His noise of protest went unheeded, so Kakashi started gently peeling the boy from himself. It was remarkably difficult, the blond was like a leech.

"You helped before!" Naruto protested when they separated.

"You, you rea—" Kakashi sputtered. "It's not the same!"

"Because Jii-san made it a _mission_?"

Kakashi just held up a hand, biting the fingers on the other, and quickly closed the window then sealed the room to muffle sound.

"So, only because you were _ordered_ to?" Naruto asked, bitterly and, under that, betrayed.

"You really think that." Kakashi stated, afraid to ask.

Naruto opened his mouth, then sighed, "No." He looked away, "Is it because of my age?"

Kakashi shifted, slouching, droop-eyed, and not looking either.

"I'm not a _child_."

He just blandly stared at the blond, not saying anything, and Naruto threw a pillow at him.

"You know what I meant!"

"I came to talk to you," he tried, speaking slowly, settling tiredly on the bed, "Just to talk. Sandaime said it would help." He paused and poked at the elephant in the room, "I don't think that having sex will solve anything."

"I want to remember who _I_ am," Naruto retorted. The blue eyes were hard, and determined. "I was _me_, during those two days with you. I'm _not_ that kid that Yatomaru fucked."

"It's still your body." Kakashi pointed out, confused.

"But it's not my _reactions_. I don't move like him, I don't _think_ like him!" Naruto shouted. "It's fucking pissing me off, this isn't _me_." Then, quietly, "I haven't been that, that _weak,_ in ages."

Kakashi thinks back to the waif that appeared in their bed when the boy was showing off his infiltration skills. It makes him want to destroy something when he realizes that hungry-looking child was who Yatomaru saw, who that trash _raped_, because he realizes now that at least some part of that waif was real. Small, brittle, and without shields.

It makes him want to reach out and hug the blond to him, but he isn't sure that would be appropriate.

"There's probably a," Kakashi ran a hand through his hair, "a different way to work through this. I'm sure that this has happened on other infiltrations."

"There is, sorta," Naruto shifted, watching him, "But it takes time and people I can trust. Mujina-sensei, she taught me infiltration work, she's on a long term mission, and I'm not gonna bother the others. They looked dead on their feet with all the planning and stuff going on and they..."

Kakashi just waited patiently, with a questioning tilt.

"Talking about it hurts them alot," Naruto said, finally. "So they don't really want me to talk about it. And they won't let me train much. And I keep... remembering things, and then I tell myself if it was _me_ I would've done _this_ or done _that_, instead." The boy snorted, glared, "But, I shouldn't _have_ to be telling myself. I should _know_."

As Kakashi watched the blond turn all his anger inward, on himself, Obito's eye burned. It told him, _Those who don't take care of their comrades, are lower than trash._

"I wanna face this head-on," blue, blue eyes looked up at Kakashi, "Please."

He sighed, and laid a hand on the blond head.

"Only to help you get over this," Kakashi said, both to Naruto and to himself. And the boy beamed, sunny, and turned towards him, tugging his mask the rest of the way off, his kiss was a '_thank you'_ and a '_thank god'_ all at once.

"Um, if I freeze or something," Naruto mumbled against his lips, "just, like, touch me or keep touching me, and maybe say my name."

"You," Kakashi murmured, making it a question, "like my hands."

"They're kind."

Which still doesn't explain half of the way the kid reacts to them, but he'll follow up on that later.

They skim off each other's clothes, and touch, in fits and starts, with Naruto a bit twitchy and trying to go too fast and then freezing. But Kakashi calmed the boy's movements, and he hummed, 'its okay'.

And he kept his hands gliding across skin.

* * *

He was tonguing the blond, hands gently spreading ass cheeks apart, and making careful slow licks inwards, Naruto gasping into the sheets. His entire body moved as if he couldn't decide whether to get closer to Kakashi or squirm in pleasure, because squirming might move them apart. The blond fluttered around his tongue like he was trying to pull him in, and cried out.

_So sweet_, he thought, leaning back just a little to watch the pucker pulse, running a careful thumbnail against the edge, it—

"Pffft!"

Kakashi blinked mildly, and took a peek at the boy's face.

It was red.

"Did you just fart?"

Naruto had a look on his face like he was about to start apologizing.

Well we can't have_ that_, Kakashi thought, and he leaned in and blew a very loud raspberry on the cheek in his right hand.

The boy gaped at him, snorted, and started laughing instead.

Kakashi feels a grin stretch across his face, and something loosen in his chest that'd been tight for weeks. He smoothes his hands up the blond's sides to feel the laughter, and tickles him some, to hear it more. And Naruto yells and squirms in his grip, like he's trying to hold a thousand birds, bright; light pealing out and shadows falling away.

* * *

Kakashi is less thrusting, Naruto thinks, almost mindless with frustration, than he is _crawling his way in_, tiny, tiny pulses forward that then retreat a bit, to nudge in just a _l__ittle_ bit more. He can't get any leverage to thrust up himself because the bastard's got a hold of his hips, and was leaning over pressing Naruto's torso into the mattress with the man's own, and his knees were spread too wide. Every breath he takes feels thick, with heat and scent and not nearly enough_ movement, dammit._

"Nnnnngh, _faster_."

"No," the silver-haired man says mildly, god, how can he sound _mild_.

"_Please_."

"No."

Naruto tries to squirm, gets nowhere, tries clenching inside, and Kakashi's cock just retreats, only comes back when he goes loose, he presses his face flat against the mattress and _whines, _"come _on_!"

"You didn't want to spend more time stretching," it sounds only a little breathless. "And I don't want to hurt you." Kakashi's going— oh_fuck—_ so _slow. _Teasing at the edge of that spot which made him see stars.

"I'm gonna hurt_ you_," he replies, between gasps_._

"Mmhmm."

"I'm gonna kick you in the _face,_" he panted out and Kakashi was- oh god, _there_- and now just nudging the head of his dick backforth, backforth across it. Naruto kinda wails, tries to move, fails, and feels utterly powerless. It _should_ make him afraid, but it doesn't, and Naruto's so surprised that he almost misses the man's reply.

"You realize I'm holding you down," at least they're both panting now.

"I'll fart again," he threatens, half serious, half still surprised.

"That's nice." Kakashi gives a lazy, twisting thrust, "Might be interesting."

Naruto moans and just gives up and lets go, completely untenses, and lets sound fall out of his mouth every which way.

Kakashi moves, lazy, in and out, the edges of Naruto's asshole feeling along every dip and vein, the man's cock working it's way slow and slow and then, _finally,_ deep. Then at last he's all in, and Kakashi's panting into his hair, chest heaving against his back, fuzziness tickling his ass, fuzziness in the blond's mind, and he just feels, fuzzy, all warm and enclosed and when he gulps in breaths even the _air_ tastes of Kakashi, safe. And when Kakashi moves again, _relentless_ and slow, Naruto just moans and shivers and_ lets _him—

and when he finally comes there's barely a change, he already feels like he'd been coming, for _hours_.

* * *

"Ah, Hibagon."

"Hokage-sama," he nodded in reply.

"How is Uwan? I see he'd been placed with your team."

"Yeah, narrow miss, that. He could've been placed with someone else."

The Sandaime does not let a smile cross his face. Uwan really couldn't have had, with the people in that room. "That would have been a problem?"

"Could've been. He was shaky at first, after coming back from his mission."

"At first? I assume he is better now?" Sarutobi let the worry into his voice. Hibagon, now long in having concern and affection for the boy, would appreciate knowing his Hokage held a similar regard. "Can he safely participate in this attack?"

"Absolutely. Once in awhile, you can still catch him looking a bit solemn, if he thinks you're not paying attention. But he's back to fighting form and even more slippery."

"Excellent."

"I'm surprised how much a day's break helped him to be honest. Ikiryou and I half expected we'd have to drag him to Suna," he joked.

"Mmm," Sarutobi smiled. "I'm glad he's better, then, whatever the cause."

* * *

The ANBU were in position, the trap has been set, and its the morning of Orochimaru's arrival.

"Sarutobi."

The Sandaime looked up at the unfamiliarly hard tone in his student's voice. He was unsurprised at what he saw and gestured the toad-sage closer. He does not want the words of their conversation to carry, and he has an idea about what it might be about. He hand signaled, Quietly.

Jiraiya's face twisted, "There was only one way you could've gotten confirmation."

"Before we'd have to wait another three years, yes."

"...who was the child?"

"Jiraiya," Sarutobi sighed.

"Who?"

"It's classified."

"I am not some administrative lackey. Who _was_ it?"

"Jiraiya. You already know." There was no need to say, this mission could only be trusted to an ANBU. There was no need to remind him of their youngest member.

"_Dammit_."

"You yourself were angry at the possibility that we might not make a strike." Hiruzen peered at his student, "I know you, you would have been furious for the next three years."

"I'm furious at you _now_."

"I've been getting a lot of that, should it help."

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes at him. But Sarutobi just held up a hand.

"We will talk more after we handle my wayward student, and after you've looked at the children we've saved. And perhaps after you've seen the boy for yourself."

The toad-sennin's face flattened. "Sarutobi, I don't think—"

"No you don't. I think that the boy would appreciate meeting his godfather."

"I'm hardly—" and then there was an explosion. But not from where there was supposed to be one.

Something's wrong.

"Damned interruptions. Later, old man."

Sarutobi just nodded. They _moved_.

* * *

"I have to admit, I'm impressed, sensei," Orochimaru remarked casually as the Noibo sank into his gut. "I'd never thought you'd be one to take initiative." Then earth crumbled around the staff as the bushin reverted and Hiruzen ducked Kusanagi's swing at his six.

The snake-sennin's advanced guard had stumbled onto the far edge of the ambush before Orochimaru was fully in position and surrounded. It cost them Akabeko and Kirin, who'd held up the missing-nin in a suicidal holding pattern long enough that Sarutobi was able to arrive and engage his student.

"Is it wrong to hope that you'd see reason?" Hiruzen worked his way from tree to ground, and brought up a Doton wall. A snake punched through it and sank it's teeth into his throat.

"I've always seen reason, Sarutobi, it's you who do not understand what you see." The snake-sennin lept, avoiding the hand grasping from the ground. The bushin behind the wall slurped back into the ground while the snake de-summoned with a mouthful of mud and a _poof! _

Orochimaru brought up his sword upon landing and met Noibo with a _clang._

"I pity you," the Sandaime said, pressing his weapon in.

"What in this wide world stands still?" Orochimaru hissed, pressing back, and practically stamped in frustration. "What does not seek power?"

"Your seeking leads to madness." Sarutobi shifted around, turning them for advantage. His student moved too, compensating.

"Better madness. If you're not seeking and moving, then you're dead," he flung the summoned bo staff away from him and charged chakra through his blade. It came at the Hokage in a shrieking blast, that he'd barely managed to catch with the Noibo.

The staff shuddered.

"I'm sorry Hiruzen," Enma said, before disappearing.

"It was enough, old friend," he whispered, before the followup blast of wind caught him, throwing him out of the treeline. He tried to control the fall as much as he could, and skidded into and across the field of wild rice, coughing. The tall form chased after him, a stalking, that was smooth and quick like a cobra's strike.

_There._

"It's over, sensei," the snake-sennin hissed, and raised his sword. "I didn't even have to exert myself."

"Yes, it's already over," Sarutobi replied.

The ground glowed through the waist-high grasses, seal writ large and crawling.

"What?" Orochimaru yelled, body frozen, struggle in his eyes.

"The seal should have locked your muscles and chakra by now," Hiruzen said gently. The entire battle was for this, to maneuver his student from the where he would assume Sarutobi had advantage in the trees and near his ANBU onto what the snake summoner might consider his own 'home turf' of grassland. But instead it was where Jiraiya had quickly laid down thick chakra-laced ink and hid, when they'd initially separated once the fighting started.

Even as the snake-sennin shrieked in outrage and struggled, he grew fainter, and the seal brighter.

"I had such hope for you, you know. Brilliance such as yours came only once every couple decades." The old man sighed, "But you only loved power."

"Power is all that there is," he hissed, insisted, _wild_. "Power and knowledge."

"Then maybe this will be enough for you, my student," Hiruzen replied, and stepped forward, as Orochimaru tore apart into chakra and the seal snapped in, a sharp tug against his stomach and a lurch against his soul. He fell to his knees as the air around him settled, and placed a shaking hand against his belly. There was the distant sounds of battle, but Hiruzen ignored that because it-

_He_. Feels curious. Peering around and surprised.

"So," Jiraiya appeared, mouth long and flat and curled up at the ends like it was trying to smile, "How's the baby?"

"_Jiraiya,_" he moaned, getting up.

"Well?" the seal-master asked. His eyes were insistent.

"...curious." Hiruzen finally replied.

He waited.

"He feels curious and he's. He's exploring, as much as he's able." It was a very strange experience, housing another soul. Sarutobi was almost tempted to compare notes with young Naruto except for the fact that he still doesn't think that Orochimaru could be similar to the Nine Tails, and their seals were only passingly alike, and Naruto has no other experience to draw on.

"Sounds about right," Jiraiya nodded. "The Iwa sealing method allows much more mental contact, but greater overall control. Though the four part mongoose seals I've adapted will add another layer of fail-safes; so you have final veto if you needed to stuff his soul back into a corner."

"Good," Hiruzen said.

"And you never know," the toad-sage said falsely bright, "Maybe this will finally make him happy, living in the mind of The Professor."

"Maybe so," he chuckled, "Maybe so." There was an explosion from nearby, and the earth shook. "Think these children need a hand?"

"You'd always been a hands-off kinda teacher," Jiraiya pointed out, cynically.

"Well, perhaps there needs to be a change." Sarutobi looked at the sun, "There's still some hours yet before I should start returning to the village, and I find myself with an excess of chakra."

His student nodded, uneasiness around his eyes, but fell into step as he sped towards the battlegrounds.

_I will not let my shinobi shoulder all my mistakes alone_, the Sandaime thought.

* * *

_...end chapter 4..._

* * *

**AN:** If you liked this at all, please leave me a note! Even a short response encourages me to write more!

Also! Sarutochimaru. ::grins:: THOUGHTS? And I keep failing at having a detailed battle scene. D= THEY'RE HARD. Any tips?

And the OC's, good? bad? needs more (insert something here)?

**REVIEWS:** If you leave a review, you can get a drabble of a future part of this fic! Just write somewhere in your feedback, "**Request: [write topic here].**" Possible topics are porn, cuddles, argument, plot, drama, or maybe some keywords or something if you want something specific. Even just saying, "Thanks, great fic!" will get you a 100 word drabble. Granted, the longer the feedback, the longer the snippet! I will respond by pm, so please log in. Multiple requests allowed, but only one request per chapter. (This actually helps me write more, so don't be shy!)

**Geography -** based on available maps, Rice country is about half the distance of Konoha to Suna. Yatomaru's base, I'm staging at the Rice country border because borderlands have interesting landscape quirks that I want to play with. It takes three days to run from Konoha to Suna, so only 1.5 days to get to Rice; so for the Hokage, a total of 2.5~3 days of travel, plus a day of waiting/battle.

**Sarutochimaru's Jinchuuriki seal - **I'm assuming that this seal is the same as Iwa used for the Four and Five tails that they'd lost to the Akatsuki (and thus we never see). Orochimaru was able to match Naruto's Four Tail form too, so that worked out. Also, this variant was not used for Naruto because despite the advantages in chakra control, it allows much closer contact mentally with whatever's being sealed. ::wry:: Do we see this causing problems later? Yes we do.

**Hibagon - **is the Japanese equivalent of the Bigfoot or Yeti.

**Ikiryou -** essentially a living ghost, as it is a living person's soul outside of their body.

**Namazu - **a giant catfish that causes earthquakes.

**Mujina - **a shapeshifting badger.

**Akabeko -** a red cow involved in the construction of Enzō-ji in Yanaizu, Fukushima.

**Kirin -** giraffe or a legendary creature (depending on the kanji)

**Healing sex -** ^^; I hoped I dodged the penis-makes-everything-better trope. PTSD and therapy is a tricky business; you can actually cause yourself _**more**_ trauma _**after**_ a trauma happens by not dealing with it and/or not talking about it and/or avoiding the issue in other ways. Shame and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, all exacerbate the issue, as well as feeling like you 'can't talk about it with anyone' and 'nobody understands'.

For that matter, Sasuke is really, really, ridiculously traumatized and broken. Isolation, shame, helplessness, it's all there. And the kicker is he thinks he's fine, mentally, that mentally he just needs more of the same and that the entire problem is with his _physical_ strength. Since he's not admitting that he has a problem, no one can help him with it because he won't _let_ them.

Naruto here is asking for help, facing it dead-on, with full realization and a lot of psychological training, and _willingly_. And he not only wants to get better, but he's throwing himself into the painful bits instead of avoiding them, with a partner who's not only willing to go at Naruto's pace, but to slow him the fuck down; and who's also looking the problem in the eye, as well as being intuitive and understanding (yay for genius XD). That's not to say that the problem is all solved and washed away... but the rest of that will just need time.

And more chapters. x.x

**Ranks & Skill Worldbuilding - **The ANBU in this fic are the Hokage's personal troops, and are a combination of specialized chunin and jounin. In this fic the chunin make up the bulk of the ninja forces, normally outnumbering the jounin 4:1, while in the ANBU it's roughly 1:1. Chunin that leave the ANBU are usually at least upper chunin level, and due to the specialized training given, can usually easily qualify for special Jounin status. Current total ANBU at the **end** of this chapter is 64.

An average chunin can beat three average genin, with a bit of difficulty, but will not be able to leave them much alive; while an average jounin can, with ease. In a Chunin v. Chunin or Genin v. Genin match, the winner is usually the one who has a characteristic or two (ie. physical strength or bloodline or training or tactics) that trumps the other's strengths/weaknesses.

A special Jounin in this fic is a basically a chunin with certain jounin level skills. An elite jounin is a jounin with certain Kage level skills.

Jounin's can beat/hold off a unlimited number of average chunin, until their stamina runs out or enough chunin have good enough teamwork to coordinate attacks with a high-level enough battle plan.

A Kage-level v. average jounin battle is roughly the same as average jounin v. average chunin.

In a Jounin v. Jounin match it's a toss-up as to who will win, and usually depends on a combination of luck and will-to-survive. Most if not all weaknesses have been shored up and most strengths are matched by other strengths in their opponents.

In a Kage v. Kage fight, the winner is basically who has the most will-to-survive. Period. The only weaknesses/openings are the ones that are consciously or subconsciously left open. There's nothing that luck or circumstance can do that a Kage-level nin cannot either anticipate or quickly adapt to. If one Kage-level fighter wants to win, but the other Kage-level fighter wants to win more (and is thus more focused, alert, and creative), the second fighter will win.

Note: none of the rookie 9 are average. Nor are their sensei.

Kakashi has _almost_ Kage-level skills (at the beginning of fic), and is well-rounded in combat; but only effectively below-average jounin stamina. His base level of slightly above-average jounin level stamina is eaten up by simply uncovering the sharingan, then eaten more by whatever techniques he uses.

Gai has Kage-level taijutsu and stamina/speed/strength, but not Kage-level _skills, _and is fairly specialized. He can be maneuvered around by a Kage-level fighter should they be able to defend against his initial onslaught long enough (which is why Itachi keeps warning people about him); which is ironic, in that Gai would usually lose/draw in a long fight, despite his stamina. Provided it was Kage-level. Against any Chunin and most Jounin, Gai will win, almost based on stamina alone.

Itachi has Kage-level skills, but only upper Jounin level stamina, and tends to spam the Mangekyo, which eats up stamina hardcore. Also he's kinda wants to die and doesn't especially want to maim Konoha nin, so that affects the will-to-survive part of the win-loss equation.

All Sanin and Akatsuki are Kage-level.

* * *

_...next time..._

_"So vicious!" The absurdly beautiful man laughed. _

_The wolf-masked ANBU ground his face into the dirt. _

_"It's fine, I'd be dead by now anyways," Yatomaru gasped out, "We had an agreement, Orochimaru and I, and my part was that I gave him my_ _body__." He gave a slow lecherous writhe, not even trying to escape, spilling more of his blood and innards out._

_Ookami, riding the motion, felt ill._

_"And he let me have pretty things to play with. I didn't let myself before, you know." There was a knowing smile in the pedophile's voice as he asked, "Did I take something pretty from you?"_


	5. Act 1, Part 5

**The Sooner It Will**  
Act 1-5: You made your bed, now lie in it

.o0o.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto in any way, shape, or form.

**WARNING:** KakaNaru, ie. YAOI, ie. Male/Male. Also, **Naruto is 10 years old**. Also implied past rape. DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT LIKE. **There will be a lot of violence in this chapter.**

**AN:** This chapter refers to some ANBU introduced in the first part of the last chapter. Not really any explicit sex.

**Thanks to:** Vanillasauce, Sony Boy, Nightmaric, and grey-shadow-horse for giving me prompts that helped out with this chapter, and Wingwyrm and Jormun for audiencing! =D

* * *

_...previously..._

_"Then maybe this will be enough for you, my student," Hiruzen replied, and stepped forward, as Orochimaru tore apart into chakra and the seal snapped in, a sharp tug against his stomach and a lurch against his soul. _

_[...]_

_"[Uwan] was shaky at first, after coming back from his mission."_

_"At first? I assume he is better now?" Sarutobi let the worry into his voice. Hibagon, now long in having concern and affection for the boy, would appreciate knowing his Hokage held a similar regard. "Can he safely participate in this attack?"_

_"Absolutely. Once in awhile, you can still catch him looking a bit solemn, if he thinks you're not paying attention. But he's back to fighting form and even more slippery."_

_"Excellent."_

_"I'm surprised how much a day's break helped him to be honest."_

* * *

Uwan hears the far-off explosions of his platoon and envies their strength. He envies how solid the other ANBU seem, because he doesn't feel very collected right now.

He looks at the body he'd just beheaded, and cleans his blade on the grass.

Was he supposed to be this vindicated? And yet feel so sick?

Is it normal to still feel so angry?

"Hey, you okay?" Hibagon approaches him slowly, for a shinobi, making sound as he arrives and not hiding in the shadows of the nearby rocks. They're on the far side of the base from Konoha; the muddy, flowing areas of wild rice growing tall, anywhere from waist-height to head-height on a normal man. That is to say, Naruto's almost completely hidden by them, and had already taken down four nin by himself (granted they were mostly genin) and a couple more with his team.

"...maybe."

His first kill had been training and reflex, his second to cover Houkou, their tracker, the third and fourth, because. Because they'd needed someone to engage the fourth person in the enemy platoon. Because Naruto _could._

Naruto feels, he feels possibly queasy, he feels vaguely proud, he feels.

He doesn't feel _enough_, he realizes, he doesn't feel _it _enough.

The deaths weren't like he expected them to be, he expected it to help and to make him feel more powerful but it only made him feel like something was missing, that there could have been something more. Does that make him a weak shinobi? Or does that make him strong, to only want to— to need _more_? He isn't even sure what he needed, to regret less or to kill again or to be more angry or to be less sorry. Is he supposed to feel this sorry?

Hibagon looks at him steadily as he quickly tilts his mask away from his face and throws up neatly, far enough from the body. He lips away the excess and spits to clean his mouth, then shifts his mask back into place.

Hibagon claps a heavy hand on his shoulder. His sensei feels of approval.

"You covered our six; he would've slipped away or attacked us. Or gotten Houkou killed, like that other guy tried to do. Which he didn't," and his sensei's hand squeezes gently, "Because you stopped him."

Hibagon peers down into the eyeholes of Uwan's mask.

"It's okay," his sensei says, managing somehow to encompass everything, and his hand encourages, J_ust accept it._

Naruto doesn't quite believe him and doesn't quite have the words right then to be able to explain why. He's trained for this, been trained to kill and to understand people and their reactions, and he knows that he was simply doing his duty and supporting his team.

But he feels like-

As Uwan, he thinks, _it's unprofessional, this isn't the time._

The day is not quite over yet.

The area's not secure.

(_It's not safe,_ Naruto thinks.)

* * *

Ookami glided through the passageways, the warren of holes and halls that made up Yatomaru's compound. The Hokage had already left for Konoha. Earlier, he'd finished sealing the body of the Snake Sennin's guard he'd taken on into a scroll and aided another's battle with theirs. By the time they'd finished, all the other guards had been killed or subdued, so the wolf-masked ANBU had dropped off his kill and had headed towards the base to help out in the underground maze with his tracking skills.

There was faint noise up ahead and to the left, strange smells and odd currents in the chakra signatures of the ANBU there and Ookami slipped over to see if they needed assistance.

What he saw when he entered the room whited out his mind with rage.

"...why haven't you let them out yet?"

Zou shifted uneasily. Ikiryou simply pointed at the seals on the bars, "It's beyond us. I sent a summon to Jiraiya-sama."

Ookami approached the cages slowly and peered at the marks. Containment seals interleaved with explosive ones. He has to admit that the seal-work was almost beyond him as well, and he would start unravelling it had it not required focus that he did not currently have. A confused whimper came from the far corner.

"These are not the shinobi children kidnapped from Konoha." Ookami stated, trying to find calm.

"No."

From the way that Zou was twitching and not looking, the wolf-masked ANBU guessed that he was almost forcibly not thinking of anything. He could sympathize. Ookami glanced at Ikiryou and knew that Naruto's stealth teacher understood what they were seeing:

A handful of pens, in a badly lit room, with frightened pale-eyed children inside.

They were all beautiful.

"Alright my chickadees! What is this sealwork that you needed the Great Master Jiraiya to... look... at." The Toad-Sage let his voice trail off and a frown grew deep and long on his face.

Though he has no confirmation of Jiraiya's role in Uwan's life, he could make some guesses based on the flickers of thoughts in those eyes that mirrored the darkness of his own.

There was a heavy silence, that wasn't broken until the seal-master moved forward to begin work on the cages.

Their radios crackled to life.

"_We need all available trackers, Kawa's slipped away and is heading north northwest, last known position is 103', 32'._"

Ikiryou was raising his hand to his headset but the wolf-ANBU was faster.

"_Ookami. I'm on it_." He glanced at the other man, and lifted his finger from the comm button, "I wasn't aware you were a tracker." The slight tilt of the Toad-Sage's head told Ookami that he was listening, but he didn't know if the other assassin knew the Sanin enough to know that as well. Though he's pretty sure that Ikiryou wasn't aware of his... involvement with Uwan's mission.

Ikiryou shrugged, and settled back, "He needs to die." It went unsaid that power, rather than stealth, would serve them best with that task. What went even more unsaid underneath _that_, was that the other assassin would yet still have preferred to make the kill, and didn't think Ookami would do it properly. _Aa, that confirms it._

"I understand." Ookami was already leaving.

"Do you?" The soft-spoken question lingered, and tried to chase him down the hall.

_More than you know, _he just mentally replied.

* * *

Yatomaru did not even deserve to have the Chidori wasted on him, Ookami thought, as the wolf-masked ANBU stalked him through the grass and the small lakes that dotted Rice Country.

He idly dodged explosions from time-delayed seals and hunted the willowy jounin; it was fairly easy following the blood-scent, cuts littered the other man, deep flesh wounds where sometimes the white of bone flashed. The jounin might've been a bit difficult had Ookami not possessed an eye that saw through genjutsu and a seal-master for a teacher and a teacher's teacher. Also most sealing arts were not suited to the pace of battle, it took a true genius like Minato-sensei to adapt it to the field. And Yatomaru, while very gifted, was not a genius.

As it was, Ookami felt he could take his time and darted forward with a slice, and the bicep was neatly shaved off the man's right arm; he made sure to leave it connected by a strip, so that it flapped in the wind with a spray of red and messed up Yatomaru's balance.

"Isn't it wrong to play with your food, Wolf-san?" the pedophile asked, with a geisha's smile, eyes wincing with pain but tilted in a leer.

He was right, annoyingly enough, and the ANBU attempted to pull a tight rein back on himself. But let rip his katana through that narrow torso in a last diagonal slash, bones _screeching_ and gaping out in shattered bits, whipping the body around, and he bore Yatomaru into the dirt as the other man bled out. The Copy Nin kneeled on his back and kept a hand, hard, pressed against the pedophile's head, the silky, fine platinum hair making it difficult to keep a steady grip.

The absurdly pretty man laughed around the blood in his mouth. "So vicious!"

The wolf-masked ANBU ground his face into the dirt.

"It's fine, I'd be dead by now anyways," Yatomaru gasped out, "We had an agreement, Orochimaru and I, and my part was that I gave him my body." He gave a slow lecherous writhe, not even trying to escape, spilling more of his blood and innards out.

Ookami, riding the motion, felt ill.

"And he let me have pretty things to play with. I didn't let myself before, you know." There was a knowing smile in the pedophile's voice as he asked, "Did I take something pretty from you?"

Ookami flung the man away from him, against a rock outcropping, hoping a concussion would shut him up.

Yatomaru only coughed and stared back with pale blue-grey eyes, darkened with pain, but triumphant, "People are only this angry when they care. Was it a sibling perhaps? A niece? A _son_?"

Ookami tensed and was still attempting to process the bitter viciousness in that statement when the other man grinned suddenly and asked-

"Did you want him for yourself?"

The kunai landed with a solid _thunk _in the man's skull, a smile still lingering on the blond's face.

It was singularly unsatisfying.

* * *

The hand lands on Uwan's arm mid-swing, possible because the other boy's natural reach is much longer, and stops him from finishing the slice across the genin's neck.

The feel of the grip startles Naruto enough to make him look at the other kid's face.

It makes him remember how he was quiet when he was little, because he changed caretakers less when he was quiet and it made them less angry, and how he became more and more silent and shadow-like until it seemed like he wasn't seen for days at a time. But when they happened to remember him they hated him again, and eventually he'd thought that if he was still going to be hated even when he was invisible, then he'd rather not be. He was going to be what he wanted to be, and Naruto wanted to be loud. And he was not gonna take it back. He knew that there would be consequences and he would swallow them, because the price of doing anything else was too high.

He was not going to take _himself _back, like he was a misspoken word.

That feeling, of not taking any of it back, that was in the mousy-haired boy. Of being stubborn because something _made_ him be stubborn.

And Uwan realizes then that the other boy isn't moving much either. The genin just looks into the eyeholes of his mask like he's studying him right back.

_It-it's the genin that Yatomaru assigned to execute me, _Uwan thinks.

"Ah," there is recognition in the other boy's dark eyes as they peer at his own distinctive blue ones, "is that how it is?"

Uwan has no words. He scrambles for a reply but the genin interrupts him.

"I'm still not going to hold back."

And this somehow makes Uwan feel just a bit relieved, and he twists out of the hold and reengages.

The genin is older and taller and stronger and in a fair situation would have beaten him. But Uwan had fought on this piece of land before, and some of his traps are still set, and other boy believed him when he ran away or tripped. Its simple to then lead him into a trap that tangles up all the dark-eyed boy's limbs in reinforced rope.

Uwan watches the other boy's face as he slides the wakizashi into his heart, and his face was defiant, but resigned and regretful too. The mousy-haired boy accepts the blade like it was his own choice, despite being tied up, despite having fought to live, as the culmination of all his choices.

Watching him feels like he's watching himself die.

Its his ninth kill.

* * *

"...I gotta admit I'm impressed. Didn't expect much out of the runt to be honest, but he's saved my ass at least once and watching him take out this one chunin," Houkou broke off and chuckled, "Let me tell you, it wasn't graceful or anything, looked more awkward than anything else, but it was very well done. He was setting up traps in this running battle, then engaged using some basic stances and tricked the guy into overextending, and when he did, levered him into the trigger for a bunch of exploding notes," Houkou gestured broadly to illustrate his words. "Damn professional too; sliced off the head, to confirm the kill."

"And he's still in the Academy?" Akashita asked in disbelief, looking at Houkou, who shrugged in a way that said '_I thought he was_', and turned to Hibagon.

Most of the fighting was over, all the genin and chunin were accounted for with only two tracking teams still hunting down their jounin-level strays. The ANBU teams were setting up a wide secured perimeter to settle down for the night, with a member from each platoon gathering at the base to drop off their team's seal scrolls with the bodies of dead nin. Ookami was wondering why Hibagon's team sent two members when he glanced at the impressive pile they were dropping off and raised an eyebrow. There were actually enough to be unwieldy for only one set of arms, if one expected that shinobi to be battle-ready.

"Yeah," Hibagon answered, nodding. "Half-undercover, granted, and details classified. But he still needs to work on his basic combat skills so you can count him as an Academy student."

"Damn. Must've had a great teacher then, to bring him that much up to speed and able to go toe-to-toe with a chunin," said Akashita.

"It tickles my nuts that you think that, it really does," Hibagon laughed and the room boomed with it, then he waved off their miffed stances. "I taught him kenjutsu but the tactics and the traps are all him."

"_You_ taught him?" Houkou leaned forward.

"Only kenjutsu, a bit of taijutsu," a brief hint of consternation flickered across large shoulders. "He's not staying with the sword-work in the long run, took it up purely for ANBU, but he's still pretty good." Pause. "But don't tell him that."

"Big ego?"

"You have no idea."

Ookami slipped Yatomaru's scroll into the pile and left the room. The others didn't notice.

From the way that they were talking, the kid sounds like he pulled his own weight in the fighting if not more. Which meant a very high kill count, if he was responsible for even a fourth of the scrolls that they had brought. And it would be the first time Uwan's killed. Ookami tried not to think of young Uchiha Itachi's face during the Wars, how it gradually lost all expression, failed, and made a mental note to check up on the boy after his duties were over.

* * *

There were signs of battle on the land, pockmarks and burns, but by the end of the rainy season they should all be washed away. They were almost done, the captives were en-route back to Konoha, as well as the retrieved children.

Ookami had just given the go-ahead to Basan and Akashita to raze the hideout and collapse all underground spaces larger than a body a hundred yards in every direction, and he wasn't involved in the planning of how they were to handle Orochimaru's other base with the updated information they've gotten. Most of the able-bodied ANBU will head over to the other site in the morning; with luck it should all be wrapped up in a day or two.

Ookami knew that Hibagon's platoon would not be counted among those leaving for the other base; a full team was to be sent back with the sensitive pack of the numerous seal scrolls containing the bodies, and it was no accident that the Sandaime chose the team that Uwan was on. He should find the blond now, before he needed to leave in the morning and while the evening was still fresh, and he sent chakra to his nose to seek out the smell of sunshine, wind, and boy.

He found Uwan by one of the many shallow lakes that dot Rice Country, trying to clean the blood off his mask and his gear, and observed for awhile. He saw Hibagon approach the boy and ask him something, but by the time that Ookami had turned up his hearing, the boy had already smiled and shooed his teacher away.

He was hesitant to approach the boy himself, and remembered the last time they'd talked, sitting in the moonlight looking down at blue eyes that seemed to glow, the sheets rumpled in a nest, the air still scented heavily of them and of sex. It was easier that time, ah, rising to the occasion, small eager sounds and small knowing hands and small smile full of sin. Down that path lay insanity, he knew. _This cannot happen again_, he had thought. It was starting to feel too familiar, too comfortable, too easy.

"Please don't ask me again." Kakashi had requested, hand stroking through blond hair. He repeated himself, quietly, gave a final pat, and lifted away, rising from the bed. "I'll still...be around. I should get to know my sensei's son. And I shouldn't-" he'd breathed, tried again.

"Don't ask me to touch you again," he'd whispered.

"Okay," the boy had finally said.

The wolf-masked ANBU watched as the blond turns back to the water, alone_, _and as the smile slides off his face. _That is wrong_, he thinks, and eventually lets himself move when the view doesn't change. He steps away from his cover, but not any closer, and Naruto looks up and blinks at him.

"Yo." He raises a hand in greeting.

The boy just nods and resumes scrubbing, in a very focused way.

Ookami steps forward a little, takes off his ANBU mask, and watches, tilting his head to try and catch those eyes.

"I'm glad you're alive," Kakashi tells him after a bit. "You're glad too, ne?"

Naruto nods, shakily. He still doesn't stop.

"They were going to kill you, right? Or kill other Konoha nin? You shouldn't regret protecting yourself and your team."

"Yeah," Naruto sighs, and starts to dry his gear. They were very clean. "But. I get the feeling that there should be another way. Instead of killing."

"Another way?" Kakashi wants to rub at the boy's frown, to run his hand through the blond hair to maybe draw out a smile, but they're still among the wreckage of battle in the flat fields of wild rice and there's no privacy whatsoever. And he shouldn't. _And he shouldn't._ "Even these, these _people_ that willingly worked for Yatomaru?"

Kakashi finds himself placing his hand on the blond's head, and while it startles him that he'd gotten so close despite himself, it seems to untense a measure of stress and guilt in the kid even as he rises quickly and shrugs off the hand.

"You don't know that it _willing_." Naruto shot back, though his eyes were still looking down and shadowed by his hair; still shuddery, and shoulders small. "And there are many kinds of 'willing'. I'd met— killed— the genin that Kawa ordered to execute me. The kid was angry, I think, and scared. And it made him want to be scary. There _has_ to be some way to just— to just _talk_ to them..." his voice trails away, pleading, almost completely defeated. Like he knows what he's asking for is the complete antithesis of their very existence.

But Naruto is not supposed to sound defeated. He's not supposed to look that brittle. He wasn't even that broken after—

The world feels like it's _roaring_.

Kakashi sends chakra to his nose and ears, casts his senses around, and finding no one close—

He sinks into a kneel.

He places his hands around Naruto's face and looks at him carefully and makes sure that he listens.

"You are talking about an impossible thing." He says this firmly, and somewhat hard. The blond tries to jerk his head away, but Kakashi holds him steady, "Impossible, but you are Konoha's number one most surprising nin."

Naruto looks back at him then, eyes finally meeting his, uncertain.

"You do," and here Kakashi breathes, deep and shaking, feeling his resolve breaking with each word, "these _i__mpossible. _things."

Kakashi watches himself swaying closer. _(He's ten, _some part of him shrieks. _I don't care_, another part replies.)

"If anyone can do it, then it is you."

Naruto blinks his eyes rapidly and they shine, a bit watery. Kakashi cannot believe he's doing this, but he pulls his mask to his chin and wraps the blond into a hug and a careful kiss. The boy collapses against him like he's too tired to hold himself up.

Kakashi keeps his guard up and his ears open as he tips them into the cover of the tall wild rice, as he strokes those shivery shoulders calm and presses kisses against eyes and cheeks and mouth.

Kakashi promises himself to worry about this later. Sometime when Naruto doesn't look like he's about to fall apart.

.o0o.

"I'm going to have to become Hokage." The blond says, eventually, forehead pressed against his own, the grasses high above them, pierced by birdsong and wind, "To get to all the people I'd need to reach. And to be strong enough for people to listen, and acknowledge what I'm saying." There is steel being forged in those eyes even as he speaks.

Kakashi didn't expect this, being a Kage is frankly a shitty job, but he's starting to get used to the feeling of being surprised. Perhaps eventually he wouldn't be surprised by Naruto anymore, but he finds himself not looking forward to the prospect. He also finds himself not really believing it could happen.

He wonders, looking into that depthless blue, if this was what Minato-sensei looked like when he'd decided to go after the Kage seat. If his eyes looked the same. He wonders, because around girls his sensei was a bit of a dork, if that look was what finally pushed Kushina-senpai into his bed.

"I'm going to be Hokage." This time its spoken like it was already fact, and with fire and force.

And its then that Kakashi realizes that Naruto isn't like his father at all, the blond may have his father's hair and jawline and share the color of his eyes, but where Minato was like the ocean, ripples and waves on the surface but power pushed deep and away, Naruto is like the storm. Is like being in a pot of boiling water. Is like being thrown about and being _touched_ from all angles.

Because Kakashi finds himself looking at his armful of boy, at tanned skin and pretty eyes and sunlit hair, and finds himself thinking not only that he is beautiful, which is only the truth, but that Naruto is remarkable and wonderful and _hot._

_I'm so fucked._ Kakashi thinks, wide-eyed.

They'd spent maybe fifteen minutes just curled up in the grasses, and he finds that he's willing to spend an hour more. He finds himself wanting to see that face bright with smiles, perhaps a sated one like he'd been granted when Kakashi had slept with the boy last time, and he wants to see him like that again. Wants to make the the boy giggle and grin and moan under his fingers, wants to make his face twist up in pleasure and shatter with it, wants to taste his smile (wants to taste _him— s__hameless writhing and __beautiful impossible tightness_, eyes half-lidded and *needing* him)_, _he _wants—_ He's going to take a bunch of missions, he thinks, deeply disgusted at himself. He's going to get back to Konoha, turn in his mask, and immediately take whatever S or A rank they have on hand.

Maybe a long one.

"Mmm, I should go help set up camp." Naruto murmurs thoughtfully, glancing at the sky, eyes still distant with plans and determination. The boy leans in and kisses him gently on the lips. They tingle, a tug down his spine. Like when the kid first nipped at them, over a month ago. The thought shatters his mind further and Yatomaru's words ring in his ear.

"Maa, I'm... going to stay here for a bit," he flops onto his back and stares up at the appearing stars, which seems to wobble with laughter at him.

Uwan nods absently, puts on his gear, and leaves, waving. Kakashi finds himself watching the blond as he goes.

_I'm so, *_so*_ fucked, _he thinks.

* * *

The wolf-faced ceramic mask clacked onto the desk.

_Finally_, Sarutobi did not say.

Hiruzen wondered what it would have been like had he'd kicked Kakashi out of ANBU forcibly, and can't help but think a lot of not-very-well-hidden sulking would be involved. Probably with an upswing of insolence and the Copy Nin's infamous tardiness, and possibly making him completely intractable to even a _hint_ of being groomed for office.

"There's one thing I have to ask though." He had paused almost at the door and turned back around, looking tired.

Hiruzen tilted his head at Kakashi to go on.

"Why didn't you ever tell me of him? Why was," the young man coughed, shifted, "why was _this_ how I met him?"

The Sandaime measured the shinobi with his eyes, "Had you known Minato had a son after the Nine Tails, what would you have done?"

"Taken him in maybe, watched over him at least."

"And what would it have looked like to Iwa, to have the student of the Yellow Flash hovering over a blond-haired baby?"

Iwa and Konoha at the time had both been vying over being the strongest of the hidden villages, Konoha by skill and Iwa by strength in numbers. But Namikaze Minato had _personally_ decimated over half their number at a handful of key battles, and now even ten years later Kumo still held the record among the villages for highest military strength. Not a single Iwa family escaped the Yellow Flash whole. So to say that Iwa hated the Namikaze was to compare being scalded to being thrown into the _sun_.

"...Aa."

"Exactly."

As the young man left, Orochimaru sidles forward in Sarutobi's mind.

_Minato's son? Really?_

The Sandaime stares at the mask on his desk, and thought of the original decision he'd made to go through with the tentative plans that Hibagon and Ikiryou brought forth.

Earlier, he'd ordered Ikiryou to figure out someway, any possible way, to be absolutely certain of his information; matters in Konoha were too unstabilized for the Hokage himself to go rushing on a fool's errand, and there was no one else who could survive Orochimaru long enough for his capture. Ikiryou had requested Hibagon's tactical assistance and even then it took them a week.

They were that day both very pale, when they produced what they'd come up with.

_That's who you used? The son of the one whom you'd chosen over me to be your successor, you used *him* to crack open my next vessel's bedroom office?_

Hiruzen remembered talking to Uwan, to Naruto, offering the boy multiple chances to back out. But he didn't. He just looked at what was at stake and asked for more mission details.

He reminded Sarutobi of his father.

_Oh that's priceless, honestly. I didn't know you had it in you._

Jiraiya slipped in from the shadows, his entire torso bandaged, looking at Ookami's mask on his desk.

"You asked Kakashi to-"

"Naruto asked for the person I trusted most," the Sandaime interrupted.

"But _you_ asked Kakashi."

He nodded.

"You haven't wanted Kakashi in ANBU for a long time." Jiraiya eyeballed him, "Also now you can circulate Uwan in the Black Ops." Because the Copy Nin would have raised at least some noise about his sensei's son being in the ANBU so young, if he'd found out about Naruto's existence another way, and even a little noise would flare across the rumor mills due to it's nature. And that would let people know of Uwan's identity and ruin his chances for being acknowledged first by his skill, which was one of the boy's greatest wishes.

Hiruzen simply brought out his pipe and concentrated on lighting it. Jiraiya's face was set like when he'd watched Tsunade whenever she was playing a very dangerous game; knowing she would lose and he'd have to help her run.

"It was a gamble."

"Very much so."

"All these schemes," The Toad Sage huffed, "...this is why he was your favorite student, isn't it?"

Orochimaru is very much amused.

* * *

Jiraiya had left already, saying that someone's come forth about a group of missing-nin the Snake Sennin had been a part of, and he'd wanted to follow up on the information. Nothing Sarutobi said shook his student's faith in how important it was to leave Konoha to find out more, so the Sandaime simply sent him off at the gates with his silver-haired guide.

Sarutobi stared at the mission scrolls thoughtfully on his desk, and called in his seduction experts. Like most of those involved in infiltration they worked and trained with their masks off, so whenever they were forced by protocol to don full ANBU uniform there was a sense of unease and great forbearance.

"You may take the masks off for this debriefing," the Hokage said, he'd wanted them to be comfortable and at ease for what he'd planned.

They did so with an almost inaudible sigh of relief.

"I apologize for not getting to this earlier, but there had been pressing matters to attend to," he said, professional with a hint of warmth.

"It's fine Hokage-sama," Yobuko insisted.

"Well then," the Sandaime shuffled some papers around. "I've heard that you didn't have to cover much, with Uwan."

"Well, we could barely fit a word in edgewise, the kid came in with a load of questions," said Yobuko.

"Heh, figures that the demon would be experienced," Buta muttered.

And Yobuko giggled, hand against her lips.

"Uwan is not the Nine Tails." Sarutobi snapped, angry. "Should I be concerned that my experts on people have lost their touch?"

Those meant for Infiltration needed to understand other human minds well, to blend in safely and consistently and to know how to escape notice, even when under suspicion and questioned. Mujina had adored the boy within the first day; but had simply not informed Naruto of the extent of it until about a year and a half later, after she'd 'graduated' him, due to the fact that she understood the boy worked best under pressure and glowed with the smallest bit of approval. Uwan had needed to get up to speed quickly, for the excuse of being in ANBU to hold up under Danzo's scrutiny. And it worked so well that he had his first short supervised infiltration mission within five months of induction and was good enough to start soloing a year after that.

That these supposed experts were so caught up in the village's unreasoned hate that they'd ignored the signs that their training _should _have allowed them to see was alarming.

"Perhaps you should be reminded of what real monsters look like." The Sandaime tossed them the mission scrolls he'd prepared, and the tone of his voice didn't make the mission an option. There was a circle of slave traffickers working their way up the north-eastern coast and both the he and the Daimyo wanted to keep an eye on them.

"Dismissed."

They left, surprise still in their postures.

* * *

"Jii-san, you better get ready! I'm going to be Hokage!" A blond blur burst into the office, and the stationed ANBU shifted in question, but he signaled them to stand down and to leave. They'd never met Naruto before and Sarutobi would prefer that Uwan's reputation proceeded the boy before the knowledge that he was the Jinchuuriki.

"The Hokage?" asked Hiruzen, amused.

"Yeah! I'm gonna steal your hat and be much more awesome in it." The boy crossed his arms and said firmly, "I've decided."

"Thank you for letting me know," he said wryly.

"No problem! That's why I dropped by." Uwan had already debriefed so this was pretty much a social visit. It was the middle of the afternoon and Hiruzen was due for a break anyways so he pulled out his thermos of tea.

"You're looking better." Naruto's eyes looked happy and full of life and the Will of Fire.

"Eeeh?"

"Compared to after you came back from the infiltration." In fact, far more lively than he'd expected the boy to look after being blooded. Sarutobi had offered a role in the invasion, thinking that it may give Naruto some closure, and the speed at which the blond had agreed left him no future option of being able to take it back without feeling guilty.

He'd encouraged Uwan's team to be top-heavy, with two elite combat specialists and ANBU's best tracker, to protect and support him. However that platoon's high level of competence meant that they were stationed on the side of the base facing inner Rice Country, instead of the side facing Fire Country, and thus the most probable path of escape. From Team Hibagon's debriefing he knew for certain that they'd faced more combat than the rest of the perimeter guards. And got the impression that the others kept forgetting how old Uwan was, and his actual level of experience, because he matched their competence so well.

Sarutobi brought up his concerns about how Naruto was handling his kills to Jiraiya, after his student came back from the battle at the second site, but the Toad Sage just waved him off.

_I saw him before he'd left for Konoha,_ his student had said, _he looked like he was doing fine. __Without me_, was implied.

"Ah, well, Kakashi stopping by helped." The boy chirruped, wry, "Thanks for giving him my address by the way."

"How did you know?" the Sandaime started. He was fairly sure he hadn't mentioned it earlier.

"You just told me."

The Professor felt chagrined.

"Hey hey, where is he anyways? Apparently no one's seen him around."

For some reason this makes Orochimaru peer in and pay attention.

"Who've you been asking?" It would be more than strange for the boy to go around asking after an older nin who'd he have no plausible reason for knowing.

"Nah, just overhearing stuff."

This made Sarutobi mentally sigh in relief. But the snake sennin is still avidly paying attention, and Hiruzen thought he felt amused.

"He's left ANBU," he added, for Naruto's benefit.

"Huh?"

"The attack on the base was Kakashi's last ANBU mission. He's a regular jounin now."

"Oh, so he's probably on a mission." Jounin missions came faster than ANBU ones, as a quarter of the Hokage's personal forces were almost always reserved, on standby. The siege on Orochimaru's bases was a major exception, and it was fortunate that the plans went off mostly without problems as Konoha had been gutted of its reserve of special ops for about two weeks. "That's fine then, I'll catch him after."

The Sandaime nodded. Mentally paused at his student's disquieting chuckles.

"Er, Naruto?" He has a thought, looking at the boy bouncing on his heels, and Hiruzen was not sure whether he was reading too much into things but it never hurt to ask.

"Yeah Jii-san?"

"What exactly do you need to find Kakashi for?" Orochimaru makes a amused snort, gives the impression of leaning in, and recommends putting down his cup. Sarutobi did so, despite thinking it unnecessary.

"Well, I like him and I wanna talk to him."

"You _like _him?" His student is already laughing.

Naruto nodded.

"As in," the Professor coughed, squirming, "As in, _like_ like him?"

"No! I mean, yeah I like spending time with him and he's funny and it's really awesome having sex with him and... Oh." He paused and frowned at the floor, "Hmm. I think I... just might." Naruto made a thoughtful face. "Would that make him my boyfriend?"

Hiruzen was glad he set down his tea.

"I think you'd need the other party to agree to something like that." He said faintly.

"Oh that'll be easy!" Naruto grinned.

Sarutobi desperately tried to think of a way to convince the boy otherwise. But the slowly growing determination and the deepening glee on that face already let him know it was a failed proposition.

_What have I done?_ The Sandaime thought, wide-eyed.

Orochimaru laughs and _laughs_.

* * *

_...end chapter 5..._

* * *

**AN:** Liked this chapter? If it made you smile at all please let me know, 'cause reviews make _me_ smile!

Also they help me write. They honestly do.

Questions I have: was anything unclear? what was confusing? I've been doing a trick with the grammar, in that Naruto's always present tense, as is Orochimaru, Kakashi's past tense until driven into it, and Sarutobi's always past tense (or even past perfect). But does it make things odd? Can you feel the difference between the point of views?

Please help me catch any mistakes!

**REVIEWS:** If you leave a review, you can get a drabble of a future part of this fic! Just write somewhere in your feedback, "**Request: [write topic here].**" Possible topics are porn, cuddles, argument, plot, drama, or maybe some keywords or something if you want something specific. Even just saying, "Thanks, great fic!" will get you a 100 word drabble. Granted, the longer the feedback, the longer the snippet! I will respond by pm, so please log in. One request per chapter. (This actually helps me write more, so don't be shy!)

**Houkou - **a dog-like tree spirit from China.

**Zou -** elephant. There's an elephant in the room! Get it? Get it? XD

**Akashita -** a creature that looms in a black cloud over a floodgate.

**Basan - **a large fire-breathing chicken monster.

**Yobuko - **Mountain dwelling spirit

**Buta - **pig

**Platoon -** It's frequently been used in Naruto canon to refer to a 4-man team.

However, "A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer." Or so wikipedia tells me.

Which leads me to think that perhaps it's a representation of military strength/power, and not necessarily numbers, thus the power level of nin versus specially trained samurai or regularly conscripted army. To be specific, in this fic, 1 average nin can simultaneously handle roughly 4 samurai or about 12 common soldiers.

**Uwan's combat level -** His raw _combat _skills average around around mid-genin, low genin if you're talking taijutsu, and low/mid chunin kenjutsu, non-existent attack ninjutsu, but highly refined henge and body-switch (but non-existent bushin). His _support_ skills are jounin level, ie. traps, escape, evasion, stealth, infiltration.

If he currently fights using 'power' style he can only fight at about Academy level, maybe. If he fights dirty/evasively he can take on most low to mid chunin, unless the chunin has solid upper chunin combat skills and can analyze him well enough to know that they should press the attack.

Also, as stated in prior chapters, if Naruto's moving quickly (ie. in the middle of battle) the Kakuremino can only maybe 100% fool a genin that doesn't have the Byakugan, and it's a iffy thing against a chunin or better which makes it unreliable in battle. And if something's unreliable in battle it gets you killed or it gets information into the hands of people whom you really don't want knowing what you can do.

And remember that I love unreliable POV. _Any_ particular person's thoughts or statements on ANYTHING, which includes how good Naruto can fight, may or may not be true. In this particular chapter alone, I've established that Hibagon was lying to Naruto about his skill level and Mujina about how much she likes him. But then, even Naruto's teachers doesn't even know what he's capable yet; and you know, Naruto likes to brag, even to_ himself._

**ANBU Worldbuilding -** numbers breakdown of ANBU subdivisions:

torture & interrogation : 6 (intel related, home-based)  
infiltration : 12 (intel related, field-based)  
assassination : 13 (usually 1v1 battles if against enemy nin)  
combat & tactics : 35 (usually team battles, guard duties, siege work)

These are rough main categories, and denote specializations. Seduction experts are catagorized under Infiltration. Uwan is in Infiltration, Ikiryou and Ookami are in Assassination, but Ookami works frequently with Combat & Tactics because he's just that good, and functions more like a wrecking ball anyways, and Ikiryou does every once in a blue moon because his stealth-work brings back intel. Pretty much everyone was brought in (for once) on the attack on proto-Sound, excluding those 8 who were on long-term assignments like Mujina and Ibiki.

56 ANBU (14 platoons) were involved in the attack, there were 4 fatalities (2 due to Orochimaru from ch4) and 3 injuries that removed the nin from combat, 2 of which were permanent, for a total of 7 casualties. A "casualty" is someone unable to fight, and includes both death and injuries. 2 elite platoons went up against Orochimaru's guards (which included Ookami), while 2 platoons used siege tactics on the base and 2 platoons snuck in to wreck havoc from the inside (one of which had Ikiryou). The final 8 teams have one tracker each, and set up a double perimeter to catch fleeing nin, staggered like a compass star.

There were 85 Sound nin, and Uwan's team were responsible for bringing down 28 of them. Uwan had a higher individual body count than his teammates due to the fact that he was picking off the genin and chunin while they were handling jounin.

For the purposes of this fic, simple information gathering with that brain-thingy during the Pein arc is semi-civilian work (ie. failed Academy students/genin who knows chakra manipulation). Torture and interrogation (ie. advanced psychological techniques) and spy-work, however, is solely the purview of the state.

**Pavlov - **is a funny thing ne? But aside from Pavlov, the brain releases 'attachment' chemicals during sex; it's not mind control, but one's more inclined to be attached/care for/attracted to in the future with the one you've just had sex with, more so if you _keep_ having sex with them, plus or minus one's actual previous attachment 'cause the human brain likes it's habits and patterns. Also, biological imperative, sort of like hard wiring to encourage family units.

Incidentally, there is some basis for rival!sex/hate!sex turning into something else via this method; granted, in practice, its usually more of a tweak to a person's preferences/wants than changing them 180 degrees into someone else, but you know, fanfic and the 90 percent rule.

**crossposting - **Each act as they are completed will be crossposted on adultfanfiction. net. I may or may not put it up on livejournal, depending on what people say in the reviews, but it would be under friendslock.

* * *

_...next time..._

Act 2: Take the Bull by the Horns

Wherein Kakashi has Issues with Pavlov, himself, and a certain blond, and Naruto takes issue with his running away. Cogs are turning beneath the surface and the changes that Orochimaru's capture have caused are starting to take effect. Also, hijinks, faceplants, and Academy life.


	6. Act 2, Part 1

**The Sooner It Will**  
Act 2-1: Take the Bull by the Horns

.o0o.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto in any way, shape, or form.

**WARNING:** KakaNaru, ie. YAOI, ie. Male/Male. Also, **Naruto is 10.5~10.75 years old.** DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT LIKE.

**AN:** gen, pretty much. Dubious flirting?

**Acknowledgements: **Thanks to Vanillasauce, Grey-shadow-horse, and bellefleur29 for prompts that helped write this chapter. Also thanks to Wingwyrm and romantiscue for audiencing and hand-holding.

* * *

_...previously..._

_Because Kakashi finds himself looking at his armful of boy, at tanned skin and pretty eyes and sunlit hair, and finds himself thinking not only that he is beautiful, which is only the truth, but that Naruto is remarkable and wonderful and _hot.

I'm so fucked. _Kakashi thinks, wide-eyed._

_[...]_

_He's going to take a bunch of missions, he thinks, deeply disgusted at himself. He's going to get back to Konoha, turn in his mask, and immediately take whatever S or A rank they have on hand._

_Maybe a long one._

* * *

Naruto plops into his seat near the back of the class with a satisfied sigh. It's nice to get back into his routine after skipping the entire last week for the attack on Orochimaru's base. _Even though all his teachers are probably pissed off at him for disappearing_, he thinks, catching the chuunin's stinkeye. But it's not like he hadn't been sleeping through class the entire month anyway, since a whole four weeks was dedicated to tactics and battlefield awareness, so he doesn't really see what the big deal is. Some people, Naruto knows, because most of the Academy teachers are living proof, have no sense of proportion, 'cause if someone really wants to learn then they will, and if you force it on them it'd just dribble out of their ears the moment the teacher's head is turned.

He leans back and does his usual complete survey of the room whenever he's left for more than a couple days; no change in the non-clan members, nor with the Aburame (though it's hard to tell with that one), the Hyuuga looks a bit more cowed (there must have been a recent practical), the Nara, Akimichi, and Inuzuka look somewhat more bored than before and really frustrated (odd), and the Yamanka seems to be kinda not as warm to that civilian girl she'd been mentoring. _Huh. _Naruto frowns.

It's no accident that there were so many clan heirs from major clans their year; and it was almost solely the fault of the Ino-Shika-Cho triad who's wanted their children born close together. The other clan heads realized once they'd news of the pregnancies that it would mean not only a semi-formal, semi-permanent clan alliance of three powerful clans should the team reform, but also that the Ino-Shika-Cho children would be the eldest, and thus most experienced, heirs of their generation. If there were no other clan heirs of comparable age and experience to those three, then leadership of their age group would default to them. And given the three clan's alliance, fighting strength, and collective prestige, they'd take leadership of at least five years worth of graduating classes _above_ them as well as of all those below.

Within two months of an overhead conversation at the Akimichi's BBQ restaurant, the Inuzuka, Aburame, and Hyuuga announced pregnancies as well. Within a third, after what appeared to be some sort of internal clan struggle, the Uchiha followed.

Or at least, that's what Naruto understands from the briefing he'd been given four years ago. None of the clans were particularly surprised that, of the three concurrent classes at the Academy, that their heirs were all placed in the same one. The Hokage's sure they'd warned their children to be especially careful about revealing too much of themselves and their abilities to their teachers, and any adults who'd appeared to be observing their classes. Naruto thinks its a lucky break for Jii-san that he ended up just about the right age to be assigned to watch them too, 'cause he's a little more than half a year older than everyone else, but it's not like he looks it. Its classified as a C-rank mission because of it's importance to the Hokage, and because it was so long-term, and 'cause it'd be difficult or annoying for the average nin. But the mission's fairly easy for Naruto since, hey, he actually _was_ an Academy student for about half its subjects and its not like he'd have to hold a de-age henge for half a day, every day.

About every two weeks or so, as Uwan, he reports any observations he has of the heirs, be it about personality, ability, or general trends he's sensing regarding their immediate family or their clans. He's sure his reports are cross-referenced with those of the teachers because sometimes he senses them watching too, but the teachers can't be everywhere, and some things you just hide from those in charge.

And some things those in charge don't seem to care about, despite how they should.

The fact that the pink-haired girl with the full civilian background is apparently in the process of a falling out with the Yamanaka is a matter of deep concern, and, Naruto eyes the teachers, apparently only he thinks so. He's frankly amazed that his classmate has lasted so long despite having no shinobi relatives in Konoha, 'cause it meant not having any genetic predisposition towards combat or anyone to train with. If she did have any shinobi blood, it was from before her family moved to the village; he knows 'cause he'd looked her up, out of curiosity.

So pretty much all her ability as a shinobi is hers. Every twist that she'd pushed her chakra coils into to increase capacity was hard fought; none of it were patterns passed on from being in her mother's womb. None of her strength was lent to her from her father's genes.

Naruto's impressed by her, 'cause while even with all her work she was still a very weak Academy student, physically, she was a really, really strong civilian. And she understands things the fastest of anyone in the class, clan or non-clan, if it was something they were all learning at the same time instead of something the clans taught beforehand. And Naruto sees this.

He's not sure anyone else does, though, 'cause if you were to look at the class as a whole, she's somewhere near the very bottom whenever they spar or train or do anything physical. And not many people expect more from her, certainly not her parents who probably already think she's freakishly strong, and not from the teachers who have her background checks and know _exactly_ how civilian she is. The Yamanaka had worked with her before, on the physical part, and had encouraged her to try her best despite not being from a clan and the pink-haired girl pretty much bloomed under the praise.

But now Naruto watches as she whips out a single flawless bushin on her first try, turn to the Yamanaka who didn't smile at her, and then look away disappointed. He thinks it would be a damn shame if the girl didn't end up being shinobi.

_Sakura, _Naruto thinks, _that's her name. I should figure out how to help her, _he decides. 'Cause she's awesome and the village always needs more awesome, and more female nin.

Or, well, the village always needs more strong shinobi, and female nin always give birth to strong shinobi. The medic-nins that Naruto overhears sometimes during his followups to the growth plate operation seem to bicker every other visit or so about whether it was the being borne by a female nin that was important, or if it was the fact that one shinobi parent has survived long enough and was good enough at their job to be able to consider going off-duty for a couple months to bear a child. They'd be arguing for at least almost four years now, Naruto thinks, mentally snorting.

He lets his eye rove over the class during the lecture on ambushes, a version of which Hibagon already gave him and that he'd already put into practice several times during the past week alone. It's kinda neat that he could sorta tell who the other kids are and where they were going just by how interested they were. Those wanting to be shinobi from clans look mildly interested but mostly bored. The civilians and those who either didn't want to be shinobi or knew they would fail the shinobi tests look just about uniformly bored as well, though some (mostly boys) paid attention to the stories of old battles. Only the clanless wanting to be shinobi look fully interested, and depending on the person, almost feverish at the anecdotes and explanations.

Naruto wonders how long it would take them realize that they would most likely never get past genin rank, if that. At least half the class knew already, judging from the glazed looks, but then their parents probably already told them their expectations of their children 'failing'.

'Failed' Academy students, and some genin depending on their skill set and physical capabilities, instead of returning to a completely civilian job such as in the food service are usually funneled into being a part of Konoha's auxiliary civilian support. This includes jobs such as non-combat medics, information processing (either pure paperwork or chakra-based and aiding the intel branches at ANBU), chakra sensoring with the barrier squads, seal-work, chakra-blade smithing, or any other such infrastructure duties that require the knowledge and ability to mold chakra. That they had some self-defense abilities and a bit of physical conditioning, in a sensitive military environment, was also a perk. For all that they 'fail' out of the Academy and are never considered other than civilian, this work was still somewhat better paid and far more highly respected than _purely_ civilian duties, as well as being safer than aiming to be shinobi. Thus most families try to enter their children into the Academy whether or not they actually wanted them to end up in combat.

Some, like Sakura, get caught up in the 'coolness' of being a nin, so they end up trying hard to be shinobi anyways. There's usually some surprises graduating every year, but not many, and at first when Naruto noticed the fail rate he'd gone to Jii-san and complained about the unfairness of studying so hard only to get nowhere. But then the Hokage explained about 'failing', and then how they wouldn't want someone unprepared in the field. It made him feel a bit better until he realized that even with that, most genin tend to quit early. Or die.

Naruto buries his face into his crossed arms and clenches his jaw. He needs to figure out a better way around that, too, when he becomes Hokage. Its such a waste.

"Finally back," the Inuzuka, _Kiba _his mind reminds him, whispers. "Where'd you go off to anyways? The teachers couldn't find you and were pretty pissed."

"Oh, I was around. I hide well." They were probably more pissed that they couldn't find him, Naruto grins mentally. The teachers tend to like to lord their shinobi skills over him in particular, and Naruto's pretty sure its because of the Nine Tails. From everything he's heard, meeting the demon's kinda like a metaphorical kick in the nuts and pretty much left everyone feeling helpless, so they try to take it out on him, and Naruto understands this. He doesn't have to like it though, and it's not like he wasn't on assignment from the Hokage himself, this time, either.

"'Sides," Naruto adds confidently, "I'm awesome, and I don't need to learn this anyways." He doesn't, literally, 'cause he already knows it, but its part of his cover to act more stupid than he actually is. Mujina told him it would help get the other kids' guard's down so that he could observe them better, and being the class delinquent would help cover for his absences.

"Wait until I kick your ass during spars before you say that," Kiba smirks. "Anyway, my clan already went over this and I was bored as hell last week. You're so lucky you can ditch."

"Eeeh, it's not that hard." Naruto mutters out of the corner of his mouth. Their teacher was glancing their way.

Kiba snorts, "Says you. I don't know how you do it, but I swear when I try to cut class it's like they have my mom's nose."

Naruto thinks here in his class are his generation's leaders, the ones who will probably end up as jounin and probably even Jounin Commander, end up as captains and as ANBU captains. So he smiles wide and asks, just barely loud enough to be heard several seats away, "Wanna come with me next time?" He can teach a thing or two to Kiba about stealth along the way.

"_Hell_ yeah."

The Akimichi pauses mid-chew, just a little, and the Nara moves his head towards them in a somewhat listening tilt. They don't answer like Kiba did, but he could tell they heard him and were thinking about it.

_Score,_ Naruto grins.

* * *

"Ikiryou-sensei?" Uwan half-ran up the tree, then pushed off to grab a branch and haul himself up to the one Ikiryou was sitting on. The boy must still be having difficulty with the tree-walking exercise, he thought. He made a mental note to inform Hibagon.

"Uwan, I'm not your sensei anymore."

"What?"

He was always amazed at how loud the boy could be, and yet still be able to turn around and hide so well. "There's nothing else I can teach you. That's not what I called you here for."

"Mm, but sensei doesn't mean just 'teacher'. You're still a master at stealth an' I can't take that away from you, so I'll still call you sensei, like I still call Mujina-san sensei!"

"If you'd like." Ikiryou can sense the grin even from behind that mask, and it made his lips tug upwards despite himself. It's true that, despite not directly being his teacher for years now, the boy still called the infiltrations expert 'sensei' even though he might be considered her peer. He'd not thought that he deserved the same fondness and courtesy, though granted that was tied into how he was still feeling at sending Uwan into Yatomaru's bed. However if it made Uwan happy to refer to him as sensei he would not refuse the boy.

"Why did you call me here, _sensei_?" Uwan chirruped happily in response.

"Watch." Ikiryou tilted his head towards the training grounds. They observed the ANBU slipping around the shadows for a bit.

"Eeh? Are they," the tiny shoulders leaned forward on the branch, and he prepared to catch the boy just in case, "Are they trying to be stealthy?"

Ikiryou nodded and sighed. "Training exercise, I'd been assigned to improve the Combat teams' abilities in my area of expertise." He'd been attempting to phase out of the assassination branch of ANBU for several years now, had been ever since he'd gotten a taste of teaching, via Uwan, and realized that he could be of service to his Hokage with more than just killing. But attempting to teach this new group has been discouraging and he'd invited Uwan over for a fresh perspective and to try to remember how he'd taught the boy.

"And are they trying to catch that one over there?"

"Yes. The debriefings from the attacks on Orochimaru's bases indicated a need for stealth-work during capture and containment maneuvers." Several capture attempts had actually fouled up enough to alert the compound to their presence ahead of schedule, a situation which happened at both of the bases. Many of those marked for capture had to be exterminated instead. "The Hokage assigned me to oversee their training."

"Um, isn't trying to capture someone without letting them or other people know they're being hunted kinda basic?"

Ikiryou shrugged, "Not really. You've mostly seen Infiltrations work so you can't have known, but staying low key and silent is more Assassinations than Combat."

"Right, and Assassinations don't 'capture' by definition," Uwan tilted his head in a nod. "And I'm guessing Combat rarely bother with studying up on stealth?"

"They're not _incompetent_," he felt the need to point out, due to the boy's dismissive tone.

"But they could be better."

Ikiryou stayed silent. They both watched the shinobi's movements some more.

"They're overconfident." Uwan said at length.

"Yes."

"And they've worked together too much, they can anticipate each other."

It was a good point, Ikiryou frowned. While it was good for teamwork, and not surprising due to the nature of the Combat and Tactics branch, it made the exercise considerably less effective. He'd previously only gave tips and lessons to his own branch, who'd seemed to pick up the concepts easily after an explanation or two.

"I think they need something like a live exercise," said Uwan thoughtfully.

"I can requisition a trip out." It would probably be well worth it, these ANBU were much too stilted in the familiar training grounds.

Uwan's blink was audible. "But, there's a village right _here_."

"You are thinking of—"

"And I can help out! I'm pretty sure I've never met those guys down there so they wouldn't be able to anticipate me."

Ikiryou gently coughed instead of snorting, most nin wouldn't be able to anticipate Uwan _anyway_. But his idea had merit. "You'd be willing to be the one they'd attempt to catch?"

"It'd be good practice!"

"And if I'm understanding you right, you wish to hold a stealth exercise focusing on capture and detainment _in Konoha proper_?" He worked out the logistics in his head, "As close to a live simulation as possible? Perhaps with you as a 'spy'."

"Nah, that's too obvious, and doesn't get people fired up enough like they would be when it really mattered." There were wheels turning in that blond head from the tone of his voice, and while Ikiryou understood what the boy was getting at (stealth was much harder when one was emotionally keyed up) he was a bit nervous. That was the same tone of voice Uwan had before he worked out his variant of the Kakuremino, and made Ikiryou fall off a tree.

Keeping a careful grip on the branch he prompted, "How do you propose to get ANBU 'fired up'?"

The boy hummed innocently, "You know, there's been these pranks I've been meaning to try."

"Pranks." Ikiryou repeated.

"Yeah. But not with property damage. Well, much, anyways, and nothing permanent!"

Uwan's results spoke for themselves, and while he would bet that this new idea will give his village stronger shinobi, and in fact would bet so strongly as to already start figuring out the paperwork he'd have to file-

Ikiryou mentally apologized to Konoha.

_Pranks._

He resisted the urge to put his palm to his face. (It was covered by the ceramic mask anyway.)

* * *

Kakashi stood there and did not know what to say.

Not that he ever really said anything out loud, there, but. But.

The wind was blowing and the grass was beneath his feet and in the air and he didn't know-

He stared at the memorial stone.

He has the sense that Obito was waiting for him, and what he usually would have done was to go over whatever happened during the days inbetween when he could not make it to the stone. Obito had given his life for Kakashi, so Kakashi felt the need to give of his life in return.

But as Kakashi recalled blue eyes looking up at him, and all the different ways that they looked, he didn't think that Obito wanted to be given that. (He doesn't know that he wants to _give_, Obito, that_._)

"Kakashi?"

He blinks, and realizes that the shadows have moved. How long had he been there?

"Aa?" He stares at the sun, "It's 4pm." He states this blankly.

"Yeah," Naruto peers at him, curiousity making his head tilt, mostly hidden in the tree-line. Sunlight peeking through the leaves strokes the tanned cheeks and tangles itself in the blond's hair. It makes his fingers itch.

"I'm needed at a meeting," Kakashi murmurs, "An hour ago."

"'kay." Softly. "Catch you later?"

He lifts up a hand in farewell even as he goes, and tries to not let his mind linger on the faint disappointment in the boy's face. Its the third time he's dodged the blond.

* * *

It is not precisely springtime but it still feels like it; Gai is glad that Kakashi has finally left ANBU. Normally shinobi assigned to the Assassination division serve for a term of only three or four years, due to the mental stress. Because whereas branches such as Interrogations and Combat have inherent safeguards, Interrogations because one is constantly working among peers trained and on the look-out for psychological irregularities and Combat because there's usually more guard duty than battle involved, Assassinations are more often than not solo and consistently immersed the nin in death.

Kakashi had been with ANBU under the Assasination division for almost nine years now and while he'd often worked with Combat and Tactics, the incidences were always battle-related. Gai should know, he'd been involved in most of the major assaults in question and asked around after he'd noticed his yearmate (and his distinctive hair) appearing more than once. He'd left ANBU himself only a year ago, despite being in the Combat branch for only five years, because he'd kept getting tapped for duties that involved ending life rather than protecting it.

Gai had originally become a shinobi to protect life.

It had all made him feel distinctly unyouthful and more aged with every trip out. And while he'd still felt a strong sense of duty to Konoha, he'd realized that should he stay longer with the Black Ops it wouldn't be _him_ anymore serving his village. And it seemed wrong to let someone else protect the things he loved.

Gai is not quite sure what Kakashi fights for, other than duty. He didn't even seem to _like_ much of anything let alone care for it.

Fifteen years ago, Gai was an Academy student and stared at this silver-haired boy who was the same age as him, but already chuunin. There was a driven light in his yearmate's eyes then, that Gai had found inspiring and he'd resolved to match the other boy, despite being at the tail end of their class.

But then years passed, people passed, and the drive that had been there in his youth seemed to fall away from Kakashi's eyes, to leave apathy and boredom. Gai had become stronger than many people ever thought possible, because he's set himself against the best nin of their year, and then one day he'd realized that maybe Kakashi needs a goal too.

That was the first day Gai Challenged his Rival, to a taijutsu match, which Gai won handily because Kakashi hadn't been trying. He shouted his disapproval and then ceaselessly rubbed it in, loudly and in very public places, to encourage Kakashi to participate better in their next challenge. And it worked.

Gai thinks he should celebrate Kakashi leaving ANBU with a Challenge, something perhaps psychological, like rock-paper-scissors. He likes throwing rock, but Kakashi _knows_ that he likes throwing rock, but he knows that Kakashi knows, and also that, even if Kakashi knows that he knows, that Kakashi has a fondness for scissors. But the Copy Nin may throw rock if he was feeling juvenile.

Hmmm. Tricky.

Gai catches his Eternal Rival in the afternoon, as he's heading into the missions office. The silver-haired man stares down at the finger pointing at his nose, which on anyone else would make them cross-eyed (since Sharingan no Kakashi doesn't have another uncovered eye to cross it with, he isn't), and replies, "Mmm something fast. Rock paper scissors?"

"Aha! You read my mind!" Gai proclaims, already processing. Kakashi isn't one to suggest challenges usually, and normally it takes anywhere from eight to fifteen minutes to even convince him to agree to one. And the man looks.

Strange, he looks _hunted_. Eye roving over the exits in a way that may seem disinterested had Gai not been with him during several missions that went south and so now recognizes the set of his shoulders.

On a hunch, on their count of three, Gai throws scissors.

Kakashi throws paper. Looks the faintest bit surprised, but nods in acceptance and walks away with a wave.

Gai frowns even as he shouts his victory. Kakashi never threw paper unless they'd lost someone on a mission.

* * *

"Iwa." Kakashi states, "You want to send _me_ on a 'diplomatic mission' to _Iwa_."

Sarutobi nodded.

"You recall, I hope, that I was trained by the Yellow Flash?" the Copy Nin asked lazily.

"Yes," he grimaced at his pipe and moved to refill it.

"So you mean I breathe down their necks and look dangerous and make sure negotiations go our way, while staying alive and making it look easy?"

"I'm glad you understand." _The boy was always quick on the uptake,_ Sarutobi thought, and what'd just been described was a skill he'd wanted Kakashi to hone because he'd too often honed making himself look haphazard instead.

Orochimaru taps a question onto his mental 'shoulder' and wonders if that meant he'd been training the snake sennin for the Hokage seat too, back then, with those assignments.

_Yes,_ Hiruzen replied. It makes his student go very still.

Kakashi nodded and left.

Sarutobi sat, and frowned down at the missive he'd just received from the Toad Sage. Apparently this 'Akatsuki' had an interest in the Tailed Beasts, though for what purpose was yet to be determined. When he probed Orochimaru, his student just ignores him and there's actually a feeling of deep unease and discomfort before his student again burrows his way into the library of the Professors' mind.

Hiruzen let him, the process of learning had always seemed to soothe the boy when he was young and there was time enough to ask him again. Though for something to make his student so disconcerted, well...

Sarutobi knew that the snake sennin feared little but death and stillness. So the unease must be connected to something that had a chance of killing his student. However, Orochimaru was strong, and Hiruzen has enough honesty to know that had it been a fair fight, the outcome of their battle would have been chancy. Which meant, in the end, that this 'Akatsuki' must have had at least one other Kage-level nin besides Orochimaru, if not more; strong enough to make the snake sennin fear for his life.

And that was a matter for concern.

He wondered if it tied in at all with the rumblings from Kiri and the unrest in Kusa that Tsunade had mentioned last time she made contact more than a half year ago.

She'd originally left because of two pointless deaths. When her lover passed, and still not recovered from her brother's death, she'd screamed of her loss and denial against him, and of the uselessness of the war, challenge all up and down her spine, and he'd thought that perhaps she'd been ready. He'd then offered her his hat and the chance to make changes but she stilled, and pressed her hand to her necklace.

"I won't be responsible for more of this," she'd said, mostly to herself, expressionless. She'd ended up staying until the wars ended (as the Second and Third wars more like a single war with a brief ceasefire), watched Konoha get settled under Minato's leadership, and then left with Dan's niece in tow before the girl could get sucked into ANBU. He didn't have the heart to make her stay and if he'd used force there would be no chance of convincing her to return to the village thereafter. She'd been on the edge of turning missing-nin.

Nevertheless, her loyalty was still to Konoha, and every year or so he'd get a message from her with some bit of knowledge that would have otherwise hurt the village.

And when Orochimaru defected, Jiraiya had left as well, to track him, under the cover of a disaffected training trip and general debauchery.

Which made two Kage-level Konoha nin, infamous and powerful by any standard, traipsing around the elemental countries appearing for all intents and purposes to be fooling around and squandering resources. Shinobi who didn't know better scoffed at Konoha, and thought their village weak and underestimated their soldiers. Shinobi who saw underneath, wondered. That Konoha could spare two nin of this power in the field made those outsiders wonder what sort of power they've kept close to home. It also made them suspect that it could be just a cover and that Konoha had an ulterior motive for sending their Kage-level shinobi so far abroad for so many years.

In the end, it both gave their nin an advantage in the field and kept the other countries on their toes, which suited Sarutobi just fine.

* * *

Jiraiya settled back on the divan, a girl on each arm. He was relaxed insomuch as he could be while being not-stared-at by the pitch black eyes that had been following him for past couple months.

It'd been only the early afternoon when they'd wrapped up the siege at Orochimaru's other base; apparently his teammate had stripped the place of it's best fighters for his travel retinue. Jiraiya had been off a-ways from the cleanup, filling up his nose with air that smelled clean instead of bloody, when he'd noticed movement from the west. A pale-haired nin strode into his clearing about ten minutes later, making noise, calm, confident.

"Yakushi Kabuto," the teenager had introduced himself, bowing. "I have information you may need."

"Oh?" Jiraiya had looked at him, and let exactly how unimpressed he was spread across his face. The bespeckled youth considered him thoughtfully, stripping his gaze slowly down.

"I hear Konoha has defeated Orochimaru? And more specifically, that you were involved in his defeat." it had been said in a deferential way.

"Yes." It was not quite a lie.

"Ah." His eyes had been lowered. Then Kabuto stepped into Jiraiya's shadow in the early afternoon sun, settling it around himself like a cloak, "Then take me."

"_Wha—_!"

"As your apprentice or as your nin, as your servant or as—," and here those bottomlessly black eyes had stared up at him, "as whatever you wish me as."

There was calmness in those eyes, the sort of calm that came from near madness and Jiraiya saw flickers of a _look_, of a certain kind of fear that grabbed the soul and _twisted_ it. He remembers the same look from his teammate.

"You must be Orochimaru's equal, or better," the teenager said inexorably, a slide in his voice, a deep hum, "and I had been on a mission for him. I'd attended Kumo's chuunin exams, gathered intel, to prove myself worthy of being," and here the words moved like Kabuto was tasting them as they'd left his mouth, "held safe, by him."

Jiraiya would have liked to retreat a step back but his shinobi instincts told him that he'd needed Kabuto's respect, because the teenager was truly afraid of something on a level the Toad Sage had rarely seen before and Konoha needed to know if it was something they could afford to ignore. Jiraiya's Sage instincts told him that what Kabuto knew could shake the world.

And Jiraiya's writer instincts told him that this scene had promise, beautiful dangerious creature invading the personal space of a great master shinobi with intense eyes and a plea on their lips, leaning in, but did not touch. _Why the only thing better would—_

"There are people I fear, Jiraiya-sama." Kabuto had murmured, eyes shrieking. And then he'd fallen to his _knees_ like his strings were cut. "Do you know Sasori of the Red Sand?"

Jiraiya had not breathed when the teen kneeled before him, so he could not have answered even if he'd wanted to.

"He is a master of puppets." Kabuto had said, looking up and up, the full length of him, "A master of getting people to do whatever he wants." And the be-speckled youth breathed heavily, shaky, face at crotch level and not even seeming to notice, a smile on his face, slightly feral, and a pleasant easy lilt to his voice, "Do you know what it's like to not be able to control your own body? To fight and have it all be useless?"

He may have some idea, Jiraiya had thought, twitching. _God, his mouth is so close._

"He is powerful, and he's working with powerful allies. And he wants me to spy for him."

"And you don't wish to." He was faintly surprised his voice was so steady.

"He does not let you 'wish'. He does not let you choose." Kabuto had said, and swayed closer.

Jiraiya slammed a hand down and pressed it against that pale forehead before it could reach him. _It was, _Jiraiya's novellist mind noted,_ like a benediction. _Like he'd already agreed.

"Rise. I will not have you like this."

And Kabuto stood up smoothly, a slither that threatened to lean against him, "And will you have me at all?"

It was a test, he knew, but he didn't know what answer the silver-haired teen sought. He was reminded of mirrors, cracked, of pitcher plants and daggers in silk. Jiraiya had looked down at him, "Tell me of these allies of Sasori."

"Is that a yes?"

"Do you actually even know of them?" he'd challenged.

And Kabuto had laughed and stepped away from him and started speaking of a group called Akatsuki, rolling the words and vowels around his mouth like he was tonguing something long and hard.

Jiraiya had mostly, almost, sorta been able to ignore it.

And then here they were. They've been traveling for a couple months now, corroborating Kabuto's statements regarding the Akatsuki's intentions and movements, and the teen was no less troubling. Jiraiya regaled the girls at either arm with tales of his adventures while trying to ignore the feeling of the medic-nin's eyes; Kabuto was off towards the front of the House smiling and being all helpful and pleasant.

His soft voice carried as he offered to give the girls checkups for diseases they might've... picked up.

Jiraiya was almost entirely sure that the teen was doing it on purpose.

* * *

Sasori thought, with ice and with steel, that they have ruined art.

Orochimaru had believed in permanence, like him, and had also crafted his body into something deadly and beautiful.

Sasori had thought that when everything fell, when the earth was seared and the sun burned red and dying, when nothing skittered across the ground but bugs, that even then Sasori's art will last. And that then he might turn toward that other man who understood survival as much as he did, and compare their art side-by-side.

But, if the reports he has are to be believed, then, that will never happen now.

The only part of him still alive pounded out it's rage in torrents of chakra. He took it and began to craft. Konoha needed a lesson in permanence.

* * *

All in all it'd been a busy three months. Between the Academy, making friends with the clan heirs, planning and carrying out the stealth training runs, and the occasional weekend infiltration missions, he'd barely even managed to fit in the four meetings with Hibagon to actually start working on his taijutsu, one of which was entirely dedicated to getting completely checked over by the medics to finally give him the go-ahead on strength training. And while it doesn't really surprise him that it was difficult to get a glimpse of Kakashi, between their schedules, he would have thought that by the fourth or fifth time Naruto caught him that they'd at least get a decent conversation in.

And then he realizes that Kakashi's been avoiding him.

* * *

_Troublesome, _Shikamaru thinks, as he follows the three out into the field, for a chance for them to be bored outside in the sun rather than bored inside a stuffy room. At least here there were clouds to watch.

He thinks there's something strange about the Uzumaki; the way that the teachers dislike him could be attributed to how he barely does his homework and frequently skips class, but the patterns and severity of it doesn't quite mesh into something that makes sense. Also, the blond had actually kept up just enough work to not completely drop out of the Academy, and was mediocre during the spars instead of poor, despite the eye-raising number of lectures that the blond skipped or slept through.

Shikamaru had about fifty-six theories that had the blond as some variant of genius or idiot savant, with or without some type of learning disability such as auditory dyslexia. Forty-nine theories had some clan member silently being the boy's guardian and tutoring him outside of class; another thirty theories covered situations that didn't include the clans, a good half of which considered the matter of the guy's parentage. The last sixteen theories had the blond as a spy planted by the Hokage to observe the clan heirs; but Shikamaru dismisses that group almost immediately. For one thing, the boy's too loud to be a spy.

For another, Naruto isn't all that observant.

* * *

_...end chapter 6..._

* * *

**AN:** If you're making a face right now let me know! ::grins:: I would love to know what kind of face it is!

...I think, when I wrote that there was "Dubious flirting?" that pretty much no one expected the Jiraiya/Kabuto. HELL, I know *I* didn't, I kinda screamed into my pillow for a couple minutes when my brain smacked me with the idea, 'cause Kabuto's kinda too powerful to be fade-to-blacked without being addressed and then he just made himself at home in Jiraiya's... business. D= I DON'T KNOW HOW IT HAPPENED. I'm sorry?

As for Sasori and Orochimaru, that's just a friendship, sorta kinda; I think he's kinda too emotionally stunted even for _that_. Also, he doesn't have the proper bits... though now my brain's trying to work that out logically and- ARGH SOMEONE STOP ME. ::facepalm::

And, y'know, not much KakaNaru interaction here. But look! Setup! Worldbuilding! Angst!

...yeah I know, not much excuse. ^^; Um. There's smut in the future? Or there's always the Foxwife fic? aheh.

**Timeline - **This chapter occurs from May to July.

**Academy Dates and Numbers -** In this fic the Academy meets during two terms, for 5 month each.

Spring break: February

Term 1: March, April, May, June, July

Summer break: August

Term 2: Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec., January.

Graduation tests happens at beginning of Feb to take advantage of the Spring/Summer months.

9 teams were graduated by their jounin sensei at a 66% failure rate, which means 27 teams, or 81 graduating students. Class sizes vary depending on the year and hover around 35 students per class, for a total of roughly 105 students for three classes. Ratio of Academy students to genin team members is about 4:1. Most genin retire, within 2~3 chuunin exams.

**Konoha Numbers Breakdown - **Since there had been a long period of peace before the series starts, I'm assuming that Konoha is pushing the upper ends of these rough numbers at the start of the fic. The following numbers are what I worked out for this fic, and most probably does not reflect canon.

Total Konoha pop: ~10,000

Total Konoha nin: ~500 (which doesn't include secret ROOT nin, but does include ANBU)

The Hokage's personal forces (ANBU): ~60, roughly half chuunin, half jounin

Rough numbers of** total active** genin to **active** chuunin to **active** jounin (includes ANBU): 40:400:60

(ie. about 14 genin squads usually, somewhat more currently due to peacetime)

Ratio of active nin = 1:8:2

There's about 10 special jounin floating about at any particular time, and they're evaluated with other chuunin when jounin promotions come out. They're similar to Warrant Officers irl.

ratio of** promoted** genin to promoted chuunin = 100:1

(ie. out of 100 average genin graduates, one of them will eventually make chuunin. The rest will retire/die/stay genin)

I'm taking the invasion of Konoha and Shikamaru's subsequent promotion as a normal pass rate of 1~2 new chuunin per every exam.

ratio of** promoted** chuunin to promoted jounin = 10:1

The differences between promotion rate and actual numbers are due to the fact that the better the nin, the longer they stay on active duty; either because they stay alive, they don't get maimed, or decide not to retire.

Since the Chuunin Exams are effectively _**bi-yearly ritualized warfare**_ with a ridiculously high turnover rate for genins (due to death/maiming/retirement), I'm assuming for this fic that there's actually a fairly stable and high number of active chuunin, due to a considerably lower death/casualty/retirement rate. This is partially due to increased skill levels and partially due to the nature of the assignments (ie. a lot of guard duty and protection C-ranks and spying/assassination B-ranks, and they're rarely expected to hunt high-class enemy nin). Which, incidentally, makes them excellent red shirts during Invasions and Bijiu and Akatsuki.

Only about 5% of the pop. (~500) had never had anyone in their family or extended family be nin, and are considered more purely civilian than any other group; this is a fairly stable number due to the influx of merchants settling in Konoha balanced by the perks and difficulties of marrying a nin or failed nin. It's difficult due to the culture shock, but somewhat tantamount to marrying a doctor/lawyer. Naruto's assuming Sakura comes from this 5%.

About 65% of the total pop. (~6,500) have at least a cousin somewhere in their family tree who'd reached at least genin, which includes clan members. About 30% of the total pop. (~3,000) is in a clan, which makes somewhat less than half of the nin-related population, post-Uchiha-massacre. Nin tend to have children with nin so it takes awhile for nin-related blood to mingle with total civilian blood enough for it to have an appreciable effect on the children.

The rest 30% (~3,000) that have some relation to a nin, only have weak blood ties. The 5% usually marry into this group rather than into purer shinobi blood, mostly again due to culture shock. There's only a smidgen of difference of shinobi ability between this and the 5%.

A little more than 40% of the total population (~4,000) works in some aspect of Konoha's auxiliary civilian support. The rest are either retired nin, clan leadership, or civilians who work in something completely non-chakra-based.

* * *

_...next time..._

_"Seriously. Spill."_

_"You don't wanna know."_

_"Yes I do."_

_"No, you really don't." Naruto peered at him, then just stared out the window and sighed again._

_"Argh, stop that, you sound like a girl with a crush," Hotei tested and was gratified to see the kid twitch. "Ah HA. So it's a girl!"_

_The large man is relieved. This was something normal and he quite knew how to deal with it; namely with some teasing._


	7. Act 2, Part 2

**The Sooner It Will **  
Act 2-2: Take the Bull by the Horns

.o0o.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto in any way, shape, or form.

**WARNING:** KakaNaru, ie. YAOI, ie. Male/Male. Also, **Naruto is 10.5~11 years old.** DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT LIKE.

**AN:** This chapter hovers around semi-explicit to explicit towards the end, about two-thirds of the way down. The rest is fairly gen.

**Acknowledgements:** Thanks to Romantiscue, Wingwyrm, Red_Kitsune_Flames, Sony Boy, and sexykakashi99 for prompts and encouragements!

* * *

_...previously..._

_All in all it'd been a busy three months. Between the Academy, making friends with the clan heirs, planning and carrying out the stealth training runs, and the occasional weekend infiltration missions, he'd barely even managed to fit in the four meetings with Hibagon to actually start working on his taijutsu, one of which was entirely dedicated to getting completely checked over by the medics to finally give him the go-ahead on strength training. And while it doesn't really surprise him that it was difficult to get a glimpse of Kakashi, between their schedules, he would have thought that by the fourth or fifth time Naruto caught him that they'd at least get a decent conversation in._

_And then he realizes that Kakashi's been avoiding him._

* * *

_...and I know you're due for downtime, so we should hang out!_

_I don't really think that would be a good idea._

_Why not? You'd even said yourself that you should 'get to know your sensei's son.'_

_But I shouldn't know you like-_

_Like what Kakashi? _

* * *

"...AND THEN HE JUST LEAVES." Naruto yelled and flopped over on the couch in his office.

It would amuse Hiruzen how similar this conversation was to ones he'd already had with his teenage children except he's too busy trying to restrain his first and second impulses, which both involved locking the boy in a room for the next five years.

"Naruto," he tried, "How do you know he's interested? A lot of relationships fail because one party wants it more than the other, and you've only spent three days with him. For a mission."

The blond just shook his head, "We met up twice after, and the second time we didn't even do anything, really." He squinted at Sarutobi, "I don't think you could count kissing as anything much, right?"

_See? _Orochimaru says, _Isn't it good thing that you didn't try to make this your lunch break?_

"No, I don't suppose kissing is... much." Hiruzen said weakly. While he could well perceive that Kakashi was fond of the boy, from how violently he'd reacted when he came to Sarutobi on Naruto's behalf, he had no idea that the fondness translated into unprovoked _kissing,_ let alone another sexual encounter. "Naruto, when did you even meet him again?"

"Well the second time was during the invasion on the base, and I thought you knew about the first time Jii-san! You told him where my apartment was!"

_(Minato's student fucked his son in his own bed, _Orochimaru murmurs, _and almost at my associate's base, it sounds like. Is it me, or does the boy almost sound regretful that they 'didn't do anything much'?_

_Be quiet, he does not. _Sarutobi hissed back.)

"I... did tell him." The Sandaime agreed, mind racing. _Kakashi took advantage of Naruto when he was still 'shaky' after Yatomaru?_ He'd never thought that the young man would be the type. And Naruto didn't seem-

"Come to think of it, he kinda tried to push me away then too," Naruto said, eyes cast in thought. (_So eager_, his student crows.) "I'm glad he didn't though, I was kinda messed up."

Oh lord, he hadn't thought he'd misjudged the Copy Nin so badly. "Your sensei said you were 'startling' at things," he tried, cautiously.

"Geeze, does _everyone_ know about that?"

"I think Kakashi heard it from your sensei's actually. Naruto did Kakashi—"

"Yeah, he totally helped!" There was a blinding beam on that child's face.

"'Helped'." _So then maybe he was wrong about the silver-haired young man. _The Professor has never felt so slingshot from one theory to another. And juggling his paying attention to Naruto, his divergent thoughts on Kakashi, uncovering more details about the situation, and attempting to ignore Orochimaru's comments was making him dizzy.

"Mmhmm. I really remembered who I was, after." And then the sunny smile fell a little. "He'd said to not 'ask him to touch me again', but like, he'd all kissed me when I was feeling bad, so I thought he'd changed his mind."

"It's probably your age," Sarutobi desperately said, "Its kind of inappropriate for him to date someone so much younger." _Maybe he'd just kissed the boy on the forehead or something like._

"Huh," Naruto looked thoughtful, "You think so? I mean that's kinda weird 'cause it's not like there aren't married couples in the village with bigger age gaps."

"But you're young—"

"And it's not like we both haven't killed at my age and gone on missions and stuff." Naruto interrupted, and peered at him, "So I can die, but I can't have sex?"

"Naruto, do you even really _like_ Kakashi?" Sarutobi felt like he was being run over by oxen.

"I really _like _his hands," the boy said with a leer, "Also his mouth. And his—"

Hiruzen let out a loud groan and waved his hands, madly, for the boy to _stop, stop right there_. And then covered his face with them.

"Seriously, though, Jii-san," Naruto let the leer fall away, "He's awesome and he understands me. And I want him."

(_In bed, _Orochimaru supplies.)

"In bed," Naruto added, grinning.

He really takes after his godfather, Hiruzen thought, and did not acknowledge how he'd mentally added those words as well. "But a relationship is more than just that; you'd have to be able to talk to the other person, to really get to know them and know their pasts, and their hopes and dreams." _There, _he thought,_ that should stump him. _

"He doesn't like talking about his past much, and he doesn't really have hopes and dreams," Naruto shrugged, "We were in a boring room for three days, all we _did_ was talk, when we weren't having orgasms."

"You got Kakashi to talk at _all_?" Sarutobi blinked as more of that sentence registered, "And how many times did you two have sex during that period?"

"Are we counting handjobs? Blowjobs? Fingerin—"

"Orgasms." He cut in, before the boy could get any more detailed.

"You expect me to _count_?"

"Really, it was that many?" the Sandaime asked faintly. (He activated the failsafe when his student would _not_ stop pestering for details and Orochimaru is slammed into the pit of his mind.) That would make it so far beyond the minimum requirements of Kakashi's mission as to be absurd. He'd frankly been just a bit surprised, given the Copy Nin's initial reaction, that he hadn't been requested to supply an alternate, due to... ah... job performance issues. Clearly that had not been the case.

It looked like he will have to call in Ibiki after all.

* * *

"Kakashi's difficult to read, even for me."

He stared at the Hokage monument, not turning around. "That makes things complicated then, he's one of our best nin. But I'll pull him off active duty for a couple weeks and send him to your office." The Hokage blew out a breath. "The political fallout will be a mess." For Konoha to send one of it's most respected, and presumed loyal, nin into their T&I was a sign of deep division and weakness. On a personal level, it'll mean that his plans to groom the Copy Nin for the Hokage seat will have to be permanently shelved.

"Hokage-sama, if I may, not necessarily."

The Sandaime raised an eyebrow.

"He'll have to be primed, and it will take longer. But he wouldn't need to be detained for the questioning itself, and it shouldn't raise any major alarms among those who might be concerned."

"And this would be less... invasive than other methods?"

"Yes. The final interrogation should only take one meeting. I would ask for some assistance however."

Sarutobi motioned for him to continue.

As Ibiki outlined his request, the Sandaime looked at the debriefing scroll he'd just received from his seduction experts.

_It should kill two birds,_ he thought.

_I always liked killing birds, _Orochimaru opinions.

* * *

"And we're to capture and retrieve Uwan?"

"Yes. This exercise is only limited by the village borders and strict non-lethality. You are expected to complete it leaving the citizens of the village blind to your purpose and intent, furthermore if you are spotted by civilians more than 5 times, or posted chunin more than 10 times, you will receive one-on-one 'attention' from Uwan until he's satisfied with your progress in stealth." Rakuda paused and eyeballed the group. "Trust me when I say that you want to avoid this."

"When do we know when the exercise commences?"

"Your enemies let you know when an surprise attack happens?" He snorted, "That's very generous of them."

The ANBU's posture was distinctly chagrined.

"They will also be testing and hoping to improve your reactions and your stealth abilities under emotional duress."

The team of four seemed to relax a little, confident. Rakuda rolled his eyes.

"Don't underestimate him based on his age. He will provoke you, and you _will_ react; should you keep a level head, well, I haven't met a person yet who've fully kept their mental footing around him," he shrugged at their surprise, "It's a learning experience."

They all shifted now, seeming nervous, and he held back a cackle. They were not nearly nervous _enough_.

"It will be non-lethal, if annoying. Expect his one-on-one training to be more of the same. But more personalized."

"Um. Captain?" One of them spoke up, twitching. Actually, in fact, all of them appear to be twitching. "May I... be excused to go to the bathroom?"

_Ah. Its started._

Rakuda nodded and the four all sped toilet-ward with shinobi-speed. From past experience, this version usually involved explosive diarrhea and something incendiary printed onto people's stomachs with contact dye, the same used for temporary tattoos.

At times like these he wished for a Byakugan. Rakuda remembered his first training run a couple months ago, when his underpants turned into soggy jello accompanied by the flash of camera bulbs, and he was sure that behind their masks the newbie's faces must be just as priceless.

Especially since the pranks had been especially brutal recently. He would wonder why except he figured the kid was just trying to outdo himself.

* * *

One of the first things taught to him was how to blend in, how to move with his surroundings and how hide in plain sight.

Naruto had spent almost a year working with Mujina on infiltration and going on short missions, before he'd aced his first solo mission and was allowed back into the Academy. It was just in time for him to be slotted into the spring class with all the clan heirs, and although he could've been introduced to the class mid-term, it was less suspicious for it to occur on a natural date. His sensei had also wanted him to appear more natural so the skills they'd later pounded into him during supplementary nighttime and weekend sessions were more specialized support skills on everything from traps and tools to stealth and evasion, rather than pure Academy basics.

It'd left him feeling oddly lopsided during classes, but it wasn't like his cover didn't allow him to sleep or skip through the parts he already knew, and he could always ask his sensei for tips on the new stuff that he had trouble with. Well, or that his Academy teachers didn't really help him on.

Naruto knows theoretically that, in a village so tied into military affairs, that pretty much everyone has an idea of how ridiculously strong shinobi are in comparison to a non-fighter. So if, say, a single something (like a tailed demon) cause entire elite squads to fall, that would be something to fear, universally.

It doesn't make things any easier. He still remembers not knowing why people look at him the way they do, and feeling angry and afraid and trying hard to please them and never succeeding, and then eventually thinking a version of, _to hell with it, I'll be myself. _

Knowing why he got those looks made things different, but not easier. Now he wants to shake them and shout, _I'm not a demon!,_ and knowing that even if he did it wouldn't help. Knowing, for certain, that attempting to please them would only make them demand for more, until they fully carved their grief into him.

And Konoha's grief was endless.

Naruto, on succeeding on his first solo mission rewarded himself by infiltrating into the public library, where before he'd been banned. He'd wanted to research his birthday, to find maybe some famous person who'd also been born that day or a strange holiday. Something people celebrated so that he might find them and pretend that they were celebrating him, too.

What he'd found instead was the date of the Nine Tail's attack. A death toll longer than he was tall. An account of the Yondaime's heroic actions. And a clear picture of the man, who looked only passingly similar to his monument, which Naruto knew was mostly intentional on the sculptor's part, as a security measure.

_I didn't know how *much* of a security measure it really was, _he'd thought vaguely, shocked.

When he'd confronted the Hokage about his father, after requesting privacy since he'd figured a secret kept that well despite his looking so much like the Yondaime was kept secret for a reason, everything else came out. Mostly because Jii-san thought he'd been talking about being the demon's container rather than being the Yellow Flash's son; though to be honest he'd been trying to trip the old man up because he thought there was something fishy about the Nine Tails disappearing like that when all the other countries had trouble with theirs, even though theirs were tons weaker. Which he knew about 'cause demons were cool, if scary, and he'd read up.

In any case, the second weekend in August is the first that he'd had in a month that hadn't been filled with either short infiltrations out of the village or stealth exercises for the ANBU, and he plans on using it to track Kakashi down, properly. He'd looked it up beforehand and knows that the hospital forwarded their recommendation of forced downtime to the mission office, for mild chakra exhaustion, so the Copy Nin must still be in the village somewhere.

But at the end of Saturday he can only think, _Damn the guy's good._

Even after finding him once, it's stupidly easy to lose track of him, and he doesn't even manage to find out where the man lives.

On the second day, after having that silver hair disappear from his sight yet _again_, he finds himself being spun into a small nook in a dim alleyway.

"Are you following me?" Kakashi asks, like he's expecting Naruto to say yes.

So Naruto singsongs, "Maaaybe."

"Why."

"I wouldn't have to if you'd just spend some time with me."

"You know I don't think I should."

"You know I'm just going to keep trying." Naruto has a brief thought of being all pitiful and injured-looking to get Kakashi to agree, but then his self respect smushes the idea.

"Naruto," and even when it sounds so frustrated he loves the sound of his name coming from the guy, "You don't really want to _just _spend time with me, do you?"

"Am I that obvious?" he grins.

"You're..." and he finds himself pushed a little away, even in that cramped space. "Too young."

Naruto feels Kakashi's hands not wanting to let him go, "So Jii-san's right, you _are _ hung up on that."

"You spoke with the Hokage about this?" The nin is all of a sudden very still.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

"That explains things."

He frowns, "Like?"

"Like yet another reason why I shouldn't have anything to do with you," the firmness in his voice doesn't match the regret in his hands, but they both let go of him.

"Not even if I want it?" He's not begging, he's not.

"I'm not letting myself use that excuse," and Kakashi walks off like he doesn't care.

Uzumaki Naruto is very very experienced in hiding in plain sight; it's one of the first things he'd been taught as Uwan. But somehow he thinks that Kakashi has him beat.

* * *

Kakashi, as he left the boy, felt a great many things, most of which made him wince.

He'd just come back from Fire Country's north-eastern coast, from the assassination of a slave trafficker. It wasn't assigned to ANBU because the man hadn't ended up being a security risk, and the mission had been paid for by the Daimyo who'd wanted him dead more for economic reasons than moral ones.

There's a detail that they'd left out of the mission scroll however, almost pertinent to Kakashi but not really to the mission, except for the fact that the slave trafficker routinely left himself guard-less during such and such a time. He was fairly sure that the person managing the scrolls knew exactly what they were leaving out, and the Sandaime was in the room when the mission was handed to him.

Which meant that the Hokage himself had _wanted _Kakashi to confront the man while he was in the middle of raping a kid.

"What the—"

He'd yanked the bastard off the boy. "How could you?" He hissed. He didn't look at the child much beyond the first glance. A wrenching expression and the impression of tears.

"The fuck is your problem?"

"He couldn't have been more than _ten_." Kakashi wasn't sure who he was yelling at more. It could entirely be at himself.

"But he _wanted_ it! He begged me for it!"

And Kakashi threw up a little in his mouth.

"Come on, how could I refuse _that_?" And the man gestured at the boy, but Kakashi refused to look.

Using the Chidori was probably overkill, but there was no need to pace himself for other battles this time and he'd thought that it would have been satisfying.

(It wasn't.)

He'd wrapped up the child into a blanket, Shushined with him eleven times to the nearest village, and dropped him off with someone who'd looked kind. It was the best he could do.

It was why he'd been so chakra depleted on a relatively straightforward assassination, he'd excused himself, during the debriefing. The Sandaime only nodded and began filling in the appropriate forms.

"Hokage-sama, he," and Kakashi has to ask this, because he couldn't stop thinking about it. "He said he was fucking them because they'd wanted it," he murmured, full of disquiet.

"That's usually what men of that type tell themselves," the Hokage replied, not looking up from his paperwork.

He knew, then, that the mission was either a test or a warning, or both.

* * *

Hibagon found Naruto in the ANBU lounge, fiddling with a drink, looking like a cross between a misplaced duckling and a guy drowning his sorrows in alcohol. He frowned and stuck his face inbetween Naruto and the drink and took a deep whiff.

"Hey!"

Good, it's just fruit juice.

"What's the big deal?"

Hotei removed his mask and stared at the boy, "I should be asking you that. You've been a bit distracted during practice and now I find you like a dog had upchucked into your bed."

Naruto just sighed deeply, tiny and cross, and took a long pull from his juice.

"Seriously. Spill."

"You don't wanna know."

"Yes I do."

"No, you really don't." Naruto peered at him, then just stared out the window and sighed again.

"Argh, stop that, you sound like a girl with a crush," Hotei tested and was gratified to see the kid twitch. "Ah HA. So it's a girl!"

The large man was relieved. This was something normal and he quite knew how to deal with it; namely with some teasing.

"Don't worry! We all have girl problems! Though it's a bit different if you've fallen for a kunoichi, those problems involve getting your balls sliced off." Hotei ruffled the blond's hair, "Your balls are still attached right?"

Naruto snickered and nodded.

"Are you sure?"

The boy just punched at his thigh. _Hmm, gonna have to work on his form._

"So then life's still good!" Hotei chuckled, and asked, "Is she pretty?"

He'd expected Naruto at this point to start waxing poetic about how awesome she was but the boy just turned his head away, shoulders a bit shaky.

"Well, maybe she's 'cute' instead!" He tried to say brightly. "They're different things you know, I mean pretty's more dangerous, but cute has it's advantages!" He changed his tone and said a bit seriously, "It's fine if you fall for a civilian."

But then he remembers how cruel the non-shinobi villagers were sometimes to the boy, nothing really that you can point to with a leg to stand on, but a tremendous sense of dislike, and hate beneath that.

"Did she hurt you?" he asked quietly. "Do I need to— I mean I'm not going to beat up a civilian, or like, a ten year old." Wait. "Oi. Kid, did you tug on her hair or some shit like that? Girls don't like that you know, they tend to cry and run away."

The blond head was still turned away, and the shoulders shook a bit more.

"I mean," he said, reminiscing, "You just shouldn't, no matter how pretty their hair is or how nice their ribbons looks or how— are you _laughing_?"

The boy had given up completely and was crowing into the tabletop.

Hotei grunted, "A guy tries to help..."

A small hand waved him off, snickers still escaping, "His hair is very pretty and I think ribbons would look awesome. And I tugged on his hair before, but he seemed to like it." Then he sighed, "he's still running away though."

"Er?" _'He'_. Well, okay, not as normal as he was expecting, but it wasn't unknown. Also it presented a different set of problems. "Well maybe he's just not, um, attracted to—"

"Oh he is." Naruto interrupted

"But you can't be sure," the large man said. He'd been hit on by guys before, frankly to his own surprise because he wasn't that attractive (Mujina had just cackled when he'd complained to her and told him a bit too much about the concept of size-queens), and had to gently let them down.

The kid just stared at him thoughtfully, "I can trust you right? You'll stay quiet about this?"

"Yes." Hotei said immediately, putting everything into the word. After that mission with Yatomaru, there's nothing that he wouldn't do for the kid to try to make it up to him. Actually, he wondered if that mission may have something to do with the blond's preferences now.

"We've had sex," the kid said, like a brick to the head, "And I'm pretty sure he had a good time, but he's been kinda upset about the age thing."

From anyone else the sound Hotei just made would probably sound like a squawk, but from him it was mostly like a rock farting. Still embarrassing though.

"You two've had..." He tried to make his mind think of it, but it just kinda freezes up. When did the kid even get the time to meet someone? And 'age thing'? That means the other guy must've been older. _Certainly couldn't have been any *younger*._

"Sex." Naruto supplied helpfully. "More than once; it was really fun too. But now he's all avoiding me."

Or was the boy taken advantage of? _Who was he gonna have to kill?_ Hotei thought, and rolled his weight forward, at ready. Lightly asked, "It would help if I knew who we're talking about."

The blond just eyeballed his posture and snorted, "You're not allowed to squish him. And I don't think you can, anyways, he's pretty good."

"He can't be _that_ good," the nin snuffled, pride stung. The mystery shinobi probably lied about his abilities to awe the kid into bed. The boy was such a sucker for strength and any sort of affection.

"He's totally that good," Naruto stated, "And he's Jii-san's 'most trusted shinobi'. He'd set us up that way even!"

"The Hokage-"

"Set us up!" Naruto confirmed. "And helped me realize that I liked him!"

_What the *hell*?_

"Actually I think you've met him, since you're in Combat and Tactics. It's Hatake Kakashi."

_Hatake. Kakashi. _he thought in disbelief.

The Hatake family name was famous ever since the Wars, and it has always been synonymous with brilliance; in the last two generations it'd risen to the earmark of genius. Sharingan Kakashi was widely regarded throughout the village with deep respect, from the wars and from his ability. Many remember that he'd been taught by the Yondaime, the fearsome Yellow Flash, and silently think that perhaps in a decade that the student will follow his sensei into that seat. Kakashi's skill, in general and for his age, was nigh unparalleled, his loyalty legendary, his sense of duty concrete; those who end up on his team come away from the experience being just as loyal in return, though somewhat shocky at the difference in their skill levels, which was usually so vast as to be frightening. Hotei himself, while very very good, was only barely in his league, and felt all due respect for the other shinobi's prowess.

Off duty though, the guy was a bit of a shit head. Hotei remembered trying to talk to the infuriating man when they were planning the siege, and tried to imagine Naruto ending up with much of the same, both in and out of bed, and it made his blood vomit knives. He barely recalled the rest of the conversation, just made commiserating noises when the boy started to rant and whine, and made his leave as soon as he could.

* * *

"Hokage-sama, a word. In private."

Hotei waited until the elder nin gestured towards the ANBU guards for them to leave.

"It's about Naruto," he said shortly.

"Oh?" The aged eyes sharply focused on him.

"And Hatake Kakashi." He couldn't help the vicious anger that leaked out.

The old man hummed. "You know then."

"I'd thought it was girl troubles when I'd confronted the boy."

"You'd think it was, from the way he talks about it. I'd been trying to discourage him gently," And then his village leader slumped wearily and rubbed at his head with a grimace, "because he will at least speak to me about it. I worry that if I outright refuse him, he'd break communication."

He blew out a breath, _well at least his Hokage wasn't outright sanctioning it_. "How did it even start?" he muttered.

"I'm surprised he didn't tell you at length," the Sandaime said with a cringe, "But essentially, Yatomaru."

Hotei felt all the blood run downhill from his face, leaving him chilled, "Because of his infiltration mission?"

His Hokage nodded and looked defeated, "I didn't want to send him in and have his first time be—" for the first time in his recollection the Professor stumbled over his words. Hotei didn't blame him, he felt shaky himself, and still sick to his stomach at having help come up with the plan to send the boy into Yatomaru's bed. "He didn't like the seduction experts. And they apparently didn't like _him_; they gave him just enough information for the boy to hurt himself with."

"_They—_"

"But Kakashi caught it in time," the Sandaime said pointedly, "Naruto wasn't hurt during their encounter, and apparently liked it enough to keep pursuing him."

"But Naruto's _ten," _He screwed up his face, "He's at the age to have _crushes_, not sex."

"Believe me, I know; even though he is, technically, having a 'crush'." Sarutobi pulled off the hat and ran his fingers through his hair. "But having offered him that mission, and having offered Kakashi for his first time, well, the hawk's flown the nest, on that one."

"And Kakashi? He'd apparently slept with the boy more than once," Hotei still can't believe it, what the hell was the man _thinking_? And it's not like the guy didn't have other people throwing themselves at him left and right.

"It's being investigated."

"I don't think you under—"

"I know. In far too much detail. I've assigned Ibiki himself."

"Oh."

_Ibiki. _Well. Even the most dismissive of the foreign-nin, fond of proclaiming Konoha shinobi to be tree-huggers who piss honey and maple syrup, are pulled up short within two minutes of meeting the T&I head. What's fully remarkable was that the man can make you feel skinned without laying a finger on a blade, and he does this without even a bloodline to his name. The prior head, a Yamanaka, had relinquished his role with good grace and a great deal of laughter, proclaiming that Ibiki may not literally have his clan's mindwalking abilities, but it certainly seemed like it, or even a better version since it wasn't a jutsu.

The Yamanaka had always made shinobi nervous, but at least their hands could be watched. That Ibiki didn't need to make handseals, that he almost didn't even need to be in the same _room_...

Its not really that those who know of Ibiki are afraid of him; its more like how everyone's afraid of their childhood nightmares, because those nightmares are when you were most exposed and helpless, because they will not let you forget that you'd wet the bed and they will force you to be naked in public.

So he almost felt sorry for the Hatake, being thrown to Ibiki. But then Hotei remembered the kid moping and decided that he wasn't gonna bother.

* * *

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to track you down?"

Kakashi made sure not to start. He turned towards the doorway and stared at Naruto unamused, "What are you doing here?"

But the blond was totally ignoring him and was taking in his studio apartment, "Huh."

"What?"

"My apartment's bigger than yours."

"Mine is cleaner," Kakashi snapped back. He really didn't want the kid in here, this room with not much else but his porn and his bed.

"That's 'cause there's _nothing in it_."

"There's a minifridge." He was trying to crowd him out the door but Naruto refused to budge so they just ended up far too close.

"Why are you being so-" Naruto broke off. "You're trying to distract me. To discourage me. From you."

"I don't want you," he said, slouching and looking perfectly bored, his voice completely steady and even a bit flippant, caustic.

Naruto yanked Kakashi's hands from his pockets and stared into his eye, and his heart stops. He tries not to breath too hard at the touch, tries not to either lean in or pull to the blond closer. He tries not to think about it.

"_Liar," _Naruto tells him. But that's nothing new.

He measures the boy with his eyes and decides to inform him. "I know."

"Then why won't you go out with me?"

"For one, I don't really 'go out'." Kakashi reminds himself, "And you're too young to really want to 'go out' with me."

"I am _not_."

"Are _too_," he sing-songs back, a lure.

"Am _n—_" And the boy stops at his pointed look.

There's a heavy pause.

"You should get to school," he said mildly, pulling his hands away, voice dismissive, "your classes are about to start."

"Aargh!" Naruto screamed in frustration, and then stomped out.

He told himself his fingers were cold because he was still indoors; he should maybe go out and get some breakfast. Perhaps with some miso soup.

* * *

It was a sunny early afternoon, and the sky blue and full of puffy clouds, when Ibiki appeared next to him and said, "Walk with me."

Kakashi had been strolling along and reading and enjoying the fresh air. It'd suddenly felt like he breathed water down the wrong pipe. He curled up his eye in what he couldn't prevent as being a slightly strained smile and did as he was ordered.

He knew it was an order. While Ibiki was sometimes seen around the village, he tended to keep away from shinobi who knew what he did. These shinobi were collectively very glad at the courtesy.

Ibiki was clearly not feeling very courteous right now, and Kakashi's balls tried to cower back into himself. More so when he realized the direction that they were heading. Kakashi had clearly marked out several places in the village in his head as areas he Should Not Go and they were making a beeline towards one, inasmuch as one could make a beeline while walking instead of roofhopping.

He wasn't sure if he was glad that they weren't going by faster means, because this gave Ibiki more time to study him. He wondered in an odd sort of way if it'd be easier to simply hand the man his liver and be done with it, and that was when he knew that the Interrogation Specialist was _good_. Kakashi didn't know what to do with the knowledge, if he should try to shield himself more and if that would be more incriminating. And then he remembered what he keeps wanting to do with Naruto and played with the thought that it might actually be best to let himself be castrated. Then he winced and already started missing his orgasms.

"Kakashi-san," Ibiki broke in abruptly, "Do I make you nervous?"

It was clearly a trick question, he blinked at the T&I head slowly in disbelief, almost nearly stopped walking, and then wondered what that said of him, and if it said what he thought it did, and if he knew himself as well as he thinks he does.

He was kind of giving himself a headache.

Kakashi was still trying to figure the tall man out when he noted they'd already arrived. His hand, holding open his porn, twitched, wavered a bit, then put his book away. He watched the clouds; they were shaped like whipped topping and almost blindingly white. There was the sound of the creak of chains and of high-pitched shrieks. He thought that the Torture and Interrogation head was very evil to bring him to here. He didn't want to look.

"Kakashi-san." Ibiki said firmly, and it was an order, and Kakashi dropped his eye to his. The Copy Nin felt like his mind was flayed open underneath the gaze that he met; it was an experience he'd only had prior to obtaining the Sharingan, but he was pretty sure the other man wasn't using a genjutsu. The torture specialist flicked his eyes to the side meaningfully and Kakashi followed them, if only to escape being pinioned by that gaze again.

And he saw the playground. (He'd been avoiding them, didn't want to know how he'd be if he went to one and saw—)

And he saw the children and. (It was bad enough with Naruto, he didn't want to want—)

And huh. They were only.

Only children. A little girl was crying over a scraped knee. Another girl was staring at a group and looking like she wanted to join in and they were pointedly ignoring her. The boys on the swings were competing to see who could swing the highest, and egging each other on to jump off at the top; none of them did. Two were bullying a third who was near tears and most of the brats were edging away from the scene.

They were all... he tried to imagine Naruto crying over a scraped knee, and couldn't. He imagined Naruto looking like an uncertain waif who was never asked to join, but then could only see the blond growing himself larger and louder despite being ignored. He thought of the fearless boy who nearly gave himself bone damage from training and knew he would have jumped. He remembered the look of the very very young man who would be Hokage, because he saw a problem and decided to step in, and knew that the playground would have been very different had the blond been there.

A knot loosened from his shoulders, but grew at the base of his skull. He didn't want these children, he wanted _Naruto_. The distinction was important somehow, yet no less damning, because Naruto was the same age. Kakashi darted his eye at Ibiki, who was staring at him thoughtfully.

"I'll give my recommendation to the Hokage." Ibiki said, at length.

"Aa." Kakashi paused. "And it would be...?"

"The Hokage will call you in."

The torture specialist turned and walked away, and he let him go because Kakashi didn't particularly feel up to questioning him further. Nor capable enough.

The day was singularly gorgeous and cheerful and the silver-haired man took a deep deep breath of that crisp autumn air. He decided to go back to his apartment and jerk off while he still can.

* * *

"Hey is it me or does Kakashi look... hunted?"

Gai agrees but does not say so. (He wags a finger in the chuunin's face and told him how unbecoming of springtime he was for gossiping, then recommended a light training program to improve one's focus. They'd hurriedly returned back to guard duty.) There are no apparent enemies about, but one never knows, and to make his Eternal Rival so wary, and so intent on appearing unwary, the silver-haired man must be concerned indeed. He doesn't move like he's worried for his team however; he moves like he's being personally targeted and is attempting to draw fire.

Gai mentally frowns. It's not right that the Copy Nin almost always chooses to sacrifice _himself, _as a first resort.

* * *

Kakashi plopped himself into bed and moved his clothes apart just enough to reach in and palm his cock. He'd regret how fast this was going to be but he wasn't sure how long Ibiki will take to give his report.

He tried to think of his favorite jerk-off material, bosomy chests and built bodies and they were...hmm, not enough. Then he catches a scent in the air, faint, warmth and ramen and sunshine and boy, leftover from when Naruto was in his apartment earlier that day, and he feels himself _twitch_ as he remembers the tight welcome of that body, the sounds of pleasure, the demanding pleading look in blue eyes, and he pounds his head against his pillow.

_May as well,_ he thinks, _since it shouldn't be a problem in the future, _and lets himself finally remember and desire.

(He hadn't really, for a couple months now, to let himself think about it.)

He wonders, daydreaming, pulling himself out and stroking, what if Naruto's in his apartment, right now? With the boy's Kakuremino he would never know. The blond would be watching perhaps and, knowing him, would climb in; and Kakashi would find a hand on his cock and then end up down that impossible throat again, and it'll make him lose all his words.

Maybe he might ask Kakashi to fuck him, to take him on Kakashi's bed. He would finger the blond slowly open and make him come twice from that alone; and then a third time, pounding Naruto's scent and screams of pleasure into his sheets, until he could never wash them out.

Maybe the boy might just crawl in close, and only watch, and Kakashi arches a little at that, overlaying the longing expression he'd seen on that face and imaging those blue eyes staring at him and touching himself too. _Please, _the blond might say.

_Naruto, _Kakashi replies, and means, _anything you want_. And the full scope of what that shameless beautiful creature might demand of him, laughing with him, begging at him, quivering around him, flashes through his mind and he comes with it, with the last image of Naruto, looking at him, wrecked with pleasure, and mouthing, "Kakashi," around his moans, pushing himself onto his cock as if to get just. a little. More.

But the room was empty.

Nothing moved as Kakashi's breathing slowed, except maybe his curtains from the light breeze. There was nothing surprising in his room, and Kakashi shouldn't have felt so disappointed.

A messenger bird tapped on his window.

* * *

Naruto could smack himself for getting so sidetracked.

Earlier that day he'd gone to Kakashi's apartment to thank the man for the gift he'd found on his kitchen table. The box had been dark blue and nondescript; kinda suspicious except for the pale blue bow stuck awkwardly on top, one of those cheap plastic ribbons shaped into a flower with a peel-off-able sticky spot. And the box seemed to be safe, except Naruto wasn't sure who would've given him the present and that made him wary. He'd brought it along with him to the training grounds where he'd met Ikiryou and Hibagon at dawn. Hibagon had a mission and Ikiryou had meetings so it was the only time they could get together, 'cause his sensei's didn't want to not wish him a happy birthday and hand him their presents personally.

He'd gotten the weights that he'd been planning to buy for himself and a detailed manual on chakra control tips, which were both awesome, and then he'd handed over the mysterious package to be checked over. And it was fine, so Naruto peeled into it to find a kunai, and at first he was weirded out 'cause it's not like he could throw them all that good yet and he'd thought that kunai came in sets, but then heard Hibagon suck in a breath like a gale of wind.

He felt Ikiryou place a hand on his shoulder and lean close.

"Is that-" the large man started.

"Yes," Ikiryou whispered, but then the guy always whispered. This time seemed especially quiet though.

"Huh?" Naruto asked.

"There aren't many of those left hanging around," something strange flickered through Hibagon's eyes then.

"No."

"Hey, what's up?"

"Naruto," Ikiryou sighed, and tapped the seals on the handle, "This is one of your f— the Yellow Flash's special kunai."

He'd froze. And stared down at something his father had once touched. Had once created the seals on. Hibagon was right, there weren't many of these left in one piece. Most were broken by Iwa whenever they found one, and the pieces themselves fetched a high price in the collector's markets. It was so stupid a price that you can make more money breaking an intact one and sell off the parts than to sell the kunai itself. Jii-san had told him once that he'd wished he had one to give to him.

"This must have been Kakashi's," Naruto said, wonderingly.

"I wouldn't have thought he'd given it to you," Hibagon snorted in disbelief, eyes all calculating.

"And why would _Hatake Kakashi_ have given it to you?" Ikiryou asked, voice louder with his bewilderment. "How could he have known you? Where-"

"He would have, and he did know, and I don't know why," Naruto interrupted, throat tight, fingers tracing the seals. "Well I know why _him_, I just don't know why h— I— I have to go thank him."

"Naruto—" Ikiryou was interrupted by Hibagon's hand.

"You know where he lives?" the large man asked harshly.

"I finally figured it out yesterday, it's stupid how well that information's hidden," Naruto muttered disgustedly.

"They probably did that for a reason, Naruto." Ikiryou tried to point out, and eyed his other sensei, who's face was doing weird things.

He hadn't had time to figure it out though and, knowing Kakashi, he might slip out early. He'd quickly said his good byes, stashed the tri-pronged kunai securely into a bolt hole in his bedroom, and met Kakashi at his apartment. Then forgot all about thanking the silver-haired man when the blond's teasing somehow turned into an argument and he was being crowded out the door.

It'd taken him until lunch to stop being pissed off and then he realizes that he honestly should thank Kakashi for the gift even if he _is_ being a jackass, so he decides to skip his afternoon classes to do so. And so, okay, maybe he _is_ kinda stalking Kakashi and he really shouldn't have broken into his apartment, even though he could, 'cause it's kinda impolite. It makes him feel all squirmy inside as he looks at the tiny place, only a bedroom really: a bed, a desk, a minifridge, and a chest of what he guesses to be clothes. The walls are almost bare; only a single scroll of calligraphy and a bulletin board with post-its. There are books neatly standing in a row on the long shelf underneath a large window, and next to them, a photo.

It's the brightest spot of color in the entire place, and when Naruto peers at it his breath catches 'cause what must have been his father grins back. There is a very young looking Kakashi in it too, and two people that he doesn't recognize. He looks at the single lonely photo and feels both incredibly jealous of Kakashi, for having been there when that picture was taken, and ridiculously bad that he'd been gifted the kunai. It's something so clearly precious from someone who could ill afford to give things that he cares about away.

_I— I should not be here,_ Naruto thinks. He tears his eyes from the photo violently and gives himself a shake. He will ask to see the picture of his father, maybe, later.

And he turns and walks towards the door.

The doorknob turns.

Naruto slams up the Kakuremino and the world turns purple and violet as he throws himself into the only empty corner, underneath the calligraphy.

Kakashi comes in, looking almost... almost upset?, as he locks the door and draws the left curtain closed, shielding the area of the bed from being viewable from outside.

He knows somehow that it would be awful to announce himself. It would break something, Kakashi maybe, if Naruto unhides. And more and more it seems like a very good idea to stay very still, as he stares from under the Kakuremino while Kakashi slides onto his bed and unzips, reaching into his boxers with an idle hand. There's a wandering, thinking look in the guy's eye as he touches himself slowly.

Naruto cannot look away. He wants to move closer but he's not sure he could hold the jutsu together considering the rate that his heart's pounding and he doesn't want Kakashi to know that he's there.

Something resigned flickers through the man's body and he lets his shoulders droop further into the mattress. Then he lifts up his head from the pillow and lets it fall, as if he was trying to hit himself. The dark eye closes and the hand pulls Kakashi's cock from his boxers and Naruto almost forgets to breathe.

Because even though he's seen it before, each time looking it seems like a new feeling comes up. This time he realizes, as he watches the flared head appear and disappear in Kakashi's fist, that _that was mine_, and remembers the overwhelming feel of it pushing up into him and his ass twitches in _want_. Kakashi's face clenches with what he's doing to himself, mouth open beneath his mask, his whole body shaking, fist stroking quickly now, and Naruto wants to be the one doing that to him so much that he couldn't move, because if he moved he would be on that bed covering Kakashi's hand with his own. He's hard enough to hurt from it.

It's agonizing to stay still, but he shouldn't be here so he _has_ to.

Kakashi mouths something as he comes. It may have been Naruto's name, but that could have well been only his own wishful thinking.

His chest heaves and Naruto breathes with him.

There is a tap on the window, and when Naruto looks over he sees a messenger bird, and when he looks back Kakashi's already throwing tissue at the wastebasket and wisking himself into a different set of clothes. There's a jutsu that flutters the Copy Nin's clothes and hair, and then another that makes him disappear.

He waits ten heartbeats and lets down the Kakuremino, and color and sound and scent washes back into the world. The smell isn't as strong as it should have been, which must have been that first jutsu but—

Naruto walks, unsteady, to the bed, presses his face against the sheets and _breathes, _shoving his hand down his pants. He's barely done more than grip himself before he comes with a gasp.

He turns and slides down to sit on the floor, using the side of the bed as a backrest. Naruto looks at his cum-stained hand and thinks, _stupid Kakashi. _He thinks of the most awesome present that he's ever been given, pretty much a piece of the man's soul, and thinks, _stupid *stupid* Kakashi._

He can't for the life of him fully decide that his birthday totally sucked.

(He should clean up at his apartment before he gets back to the Academy, there's an Inuzuka there.)

* * *

Naruto slips into his seat in the far corner just about the last hour of class. Chouji's disappointed that that he didn't bring them with him this time, but whatever it was looks like it didn't go well, so it's probably for the best.

Chouji shrugs mentally and considers the scarred kid. He thinks the blond looks hungry.

He offers the boy some chips.

* * *

_...end chapter 7..._

* * *

**AN: **OMG WHY DO MY CHAPTERS KEEP GETTING LONGER. D= Okay question, longer chapters, yay or nay? I'd be posting less often if they're longer. Is this chapter any good? Too bulky? o.0

Also, when did you realize the kunai given to Naruto was THAT kunai?

**REVIEWS:** If you leave a review, you can get a drabble of a future part of this fic!

Just write somewhere in your feedback, "**Request: [write topic here].**" Possible topics are porn, cuddles, argument, plot, drama, or maybe some keywords or something if you want something specific. Even just saying, "Thanks, great fic!" will get you a 100 word drabble. Granted, the longer the feedback, the longer the snippet! I will respond by pm, so please log in. One request per chapter. (This actually helps me write more, so don't be shy!)

**Timeline - **Occurs from July to Oct.

**Prime - "**To prepare a mechanism for its main work." It's also a psychological term for using certain cues to induce certain responses. For more info look up Priming_(psychology) on wikipedia.

**Academy -** Presumed to be a full time deal, 8am to 6pm, 'cause there's a lot to teach tiny minds when they're supposed to be trained to kill.

**Rakuda - **Camel

**Slave Trafficker - **same one that was mentioned in ch5. Dunno how obvious it was that his pedophilia didn't come to light until the seduction experts came back with their findings.

**Rape language -** "She's so pretty, I couldn't help myself," "He flirted with me, so he obviously wanted it," "They're crying, but they like it, they're just playing hard to get," "I couldn't resist him, he was flashing that leg at me," "She asked for it," while in a mutually consenting situation these phrases are both acceptable and sometimes quite hot, they become kind of appalling when in a rape/pedophile case. The rapist/pedophile is essentially blaming everything on the victim; they are shedding responsibility and blaming the crime on the one who was assaulted and wronged, injury on top of injury. It's essentially a variant of, "You deserved being raped," that may or may not be combined with self-delusion and an extreme case of misreading other people's responses. Given the nature of this fic, I couldn't_ not_ address this somewhere.

**Hotei - **Hibagon's real name, "God of happiness, laughter and the wisdom of being content." Since Ebisu's "God of the wealth of the sea, he is the patron god of fishermen and fishing", I figure I can use 'Hotei' for my OC.

**Seduction Training - **the full training mentioned in ch1 that Sarutobi mentions _not_ giving Naruto is specifically how to seduce a guy, and never had anything to do with never getting them to take care of Naruto's first time. Losing your virginity to a rape can seriously fuck you up psychologically and sexually, and I'm assuming in this fic that Sarutobi knows this.

**Kakuremino - **for details of the skill, see ch3. It blocks visible light and sound, but I figure that ultraviolet might be able to peek through. Pretend with me that ninja can see ultraviolet light, yes? Yes.

**Ibiki - **he's kind of doing a hybrid of the scientific method, call and response, and a complicated version of Gai's rock-paper-scissor. A pedophile, whether feeling guilty or not, would react in different patterns than a non-pedophile. Except the current situation's muddled...

**A Note on the Redbotton situation (moved here, ty lil-lo for the heads up!) - **So apparently someone's gotten around to making an automated bot to shed this site of inappropriate fic. ::wry:: This fic in particular I know for being not only highly explicit, but extremely controversial, so if it gets taken off, I would be frankly very unsurprised.

If this DOES happen, I'll be having adultfanfiction dot net be the main host for current updates of this story (as of now it is simply the archive for when I finish an act), and it'll also appear under lock at dreamwidth as well.

As for updates on this fic itself, I'm working on it, tho slowly. My job got busy, and well, there's these several other fic up my sleeve that got me waaaaay distracted. XD They'll be posted in the future, no worries.

* * *

_...next time..._

"_So?"_

_Ibiki tilted his head, "He is no danger." The Interrogation specialist shifted, however, and a look crossed his face that was the closest the Sandaime has ever seen him to surprise._

"_But?"_

"_But he might be," said slowly like the man was testing each word out in his head before saying them, more than once, "he might be, at least half, in love."_

"_'At least half'." Sarutobi echoed, disbelieving._

_Ibiki nodded._


End file.
